Transform and Roll Out!
by Impressionsguy
Summary: They're more than meets the eye and robots in disguise. In this alternate reality, join Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Jazz, Megatron, Starscream, and more in this epic spin on the beloved franchise. Now, let's transform and roll out!
1. More Than Meets The Eye Part 1

**I decided to finally try a Transformers ongoing story, this is set in my own continuity mostly based off G1 with nods to Prime, Animated, Beast Wars, and the occasional Movieverse nod. The following are the starting characters, more Bots and Cons will show up as the story progresses.**

 **Autobot team**

 **Optimus Prime  
Jazz  
Ironhide  
Ratchet  
Bumblebee  
Wheeljack  
Hound  
Mirage  
Prowl  
Skyfire**

 **Decepticon team**

 **Megatron  
Starscream  
Soundwave  
Skywarp  
Thundercracker  
Shockwave  
Reflector  
Barricade  
Scrapper  
Blackarachnia  
Blitzwing**

* * *

Chapter 1: More Than Meets The Eye

Milky Way Galaxy: 1943

The Autobot shuttle flew gracefully through space, it was a large ship considering the team was only ten Autobots, but it was the only ship available at the time when Ultra Magnus sent Optimus Prime out on his mission. Ultra Magnus had sent Optimus out to check in on a neighboring galaxy after there had been reports of Decepticon activity. Nobody could quite believe that there was any considering the War for Cybertron was millions of years ago and the Decepticons had long been defeated. They assumed the activity was nothing more than a couple of Seekers or Vehicons left over that had been scattered around the cosmos. Little did Ultra Magnus, Optimus Prime, or any other Autobot know that the reality of the situation was quite the contrary.

"We're pullin' in on the Milky Way galaxy Optimus, disengaging light-speed." A sleek white Autobot with silver wing like attachments and two luminescent blue crests on his helmet said to his leader, this Autobot was known as Wheeljack. The engineer and head scientist of the Autobots.

"Excellent Wheeljack." The larger Autobot, known as Optimus Prime said. He was taller than most of the members of his crew who's torso consisted of a broad, blocky red build with large blue legs. Over where most would have a mouth was a gray faceplate, nobody quite knew why he had it, and nobody ever asked out of respect for their leader.

"It's about time we arrived, I've been itchin' to stretch my legs, go for a ride on some new grounds, dig?" The white Autobot standing to the right of Optimus Prime said, this Autobot was Optimus Prime's second in command. He stood in a cool stance with a smirk on his face, Jazz was known best for his cool and positive attitude, which was what made him so well liked by the other Autobots.

"May I remind you we aren't on this mission to stretch our legs or go for rides, we are here because Ultra Magnus gave us an important task, which we must fulfill as our first priority, and that is to eliminate any sign of Decepticon activity in the area." An Autobot who resembled Jazz in build alone mentioned, this Autobot was Prowl, Optimus Prime's chief military strategist, personality wise Prowl was nearly a complete opposite to Jazz, while Jazz was calm and cool, Prowl was tense and calculated. He still had a spark of course, he just preferred logic and rules over entertainment or relaxation.

"I believe his words were 'investigate', my friend, not 'eliminate'." The tallest Autobot among the crew chuckled. "There is always the option of taking prisoners over extinguishing sparks." This Autobot was a white and red robot with a jet based alternate mode named Skyfire. Skyfire preferred options like that of talking things out over violence, though his size did come in handy whenever he needed to, albeit reluctantly, fight on the battlefield.

"He's got you there Prowl." The green Autobot manning one of many control panels remarked. "This is technically an investigation mission." This Autobot was Hound. The chief scout and geologist of Prime's crew. Hound, like Skyfire preferred not to fight but was by far less reluctant to get his hands dirty in battle, this was made clear with his military based decals across his body and the large shoulder cannon resting on his right shoulder.

"Perhaps I was wrong in my wording, regardless my point still stands." Prowl said, feeling slightly wounded as he did not like when others disagreed with him.

"Frankly I prefer Prowl's wordin', I wanna get out there and kick some Decepticon aft!" The Autobot standing to Prime's left said excitedly. "I've been itchin' to fire this puppy off at a Decepticon for eons." The grizzled red and gray Autobot chuckled, holding his rocket launcher with pride. This of course, was Ironhide, Optimus Prime's weapons specialist. Ironhide was one of the few Autobots to actually see action in the War for Cybertron, where he quickly made a name for himself as one of the toughest and most loyal soldiers in battle, earning him the respect of many Autobots.

"Easy Ironhide, easy." An Autobot sharing Ironhide's body type chuckled. "All this talk about the Decepticons is effecting your energon flow, not good for your old joints." This red and white Autobot was Ratchet, Prime's chief medical officer. Ratchet was just as old as Ironhide but you would never guess that considering his friendlier and more youthfully optimistic personality. A small yellow Autobot stood next to him and laughed a little.

"Yeah! Take it easy 'Hide." He chuckled. "I just hope you save some Cons for me! After all this is my first mission." He smiled, this little yellow Autobot was Bumblebee, a small young Autobot who quickly befriended Ratchet and Wheeljack when they first embarked on their mission. He pumped his fists in excitement thinking about the mission, Prime had selected him since his speed and dexterity had impressed him while he watched the young bots in their training camps. "This is your first mission too, right Mirage?" Bumblebee looked around. "Mirage?" He was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, a voice, seemingly from thin air spoke up.

"That is correct Bumblebee." Mirage then made himself visible to the others, showing himself to be hanging upside down by one of the beams on the ship's ceiling. His ability to disappear and reappear at will made it convenient for him to avoid most conversations or conflicts, a skill he enjoyed considering his more introverted personality. "But, unlike you I am by no means excited." He said as he dropped from his perch, the blue and white Autobot flipping in the air to land on his feet. Mirage was not looking forward to the trip and was not even part of the original crew manifest, but had to come along since his parole officer Prowl had been selected. Mirage wasn't a bad bot, he just got into trouble at times, though he claims to have been wrongly accused of his actions.

"Quit your whining." Ironhide crossed his arms at the young Autobot. "Little bit of heat with the Decepticons builds character, and you seem to need a lot of that." Mirage grimaced at the remark and clenched a fist slightly. Hound noticed this and quickly stepped up.

"Easy Ironhide." He said. "It's reasonable for a bot to not be overly excited about a mission, Alpha Trion only knows I wasn't all that thrilled that I had to leave Cybertron, but at the same time we've all got to be open to new experiences." He smiled.

"Well put Hound." Optimus Prime nodded. "Any signs of Decepticon activity Wheeljack?"

"Positive!" Wheeljack said. "We've got a signal coming from the moon of one of these planets. A planet called E-arth." He said, pronouncing Earth as Eeyarth.

"I believe it's pronounced Earth." Skyfire told him.

"Right! My mistake." Wheeljack said. "Anyhow, yeah, we've got some signals coming in from Earth's moon, maybe we should check them out."

"Proceed." Prime nodded. "Ironhide, Jazz, Hound, Prowl, and Bumblebee, be ready to exit the ship to engage." He ordered.

"Yes sir Optimus!" Ironhide saluted. "You heard him! To the bridge!" He pointed off, leading the others out of the hull.

"How many energy signatures are there Wheeljack?" Optimus asked.

"Scanner says that there are four signatures." Wheeljack checked. "Three Seekers and one deployer."

"A mere training exercise at best!" Ratchet laughed.

"Indeed Ratchet." Prime nodded in a somewhat jovial fashion.

* * *

Earth's Moon

"Life signals detected Lord Megatron. Confirmed to be Autobot." The tall and broad blue Decepticon said with a heavily synthesized voice looking into a monitor. This was the Decepticon known as Soundwave. An emotionless minispy deployer who had been with Megatron from the beginning. His facial construction was that of a red visor and light gray faceplate. A large window with a golden lining coming from his torso was his most noticeable feature, in that compartment was where he kept his five minispies. Laserbeak, his most trusted spy who's robot mode was similar to a red and black robotic condor and his twin Buzzsaw, who became the same thing but yellow and black. Ravage, the most lethal of the minispies who became a black and gray robotic panther, and finally, Rumble and Frenzy. Two humanoid robots each with their own special ability, Rumble, the blue and purple one of the two, could cause earthquakes and tremors with his powerful arm wielded pile-drivers, whereas Frenzy, the red and black one could emit a sonic frequency that could scramble any computer and intercept any transmission.

"Excellent Soundwave." A dark and raspy voice said in a form of devilish joy. This voice of course belonged to Megatron, the ruthless Decepticon leader. Megatron stood taller than all of his soldiers and most Autobots for that matter, his body was mostly a metallic gray with the occasional red panel or black piece to contrast. But all would agree that his most remarkable feature was his fusion cannon. A black cannon longer than the arm it was attached to that shot a blast so powerful that very few could ever say they've stared directly into the barrel and survived. Megatron emerged from the shadows in which he sat and approached his communications officer. "Once we attack this cruiser, that shall send a message to that cursed Ultra Magnus that the Decepticons have returned to win the war and conquer Cybertron once and for all!" He laughed maniacally. Another Decepticon overheard the conversation and stepped forward.

"Here we have our fearless leader giving the _same_ speech once more!" The Seeker spat. This seeker was the Decepticon air commander Starscream, who looked identical in build to his Seeker brothers, separated by colors and personality alone. Starcream was mostly a faded white with red and blue heavily featured throughout his build with a large blaster on each of his arms. Starscream had grown tired of hearing his leader's promise to rule Cybertron after millions of years of fruitless efforts. But deep down he was concocting a plan, a plan to fix where Megatron had failed, a plan to lead not only the seekers, but all the Decepticons. He was sure that any day now leadership of the Decepticons would be his, and he didn't care who he had to eliminate to achieve that goal. "It's high time for a change Megatron, time and time again you have proven to fail, where another Decepticon could triumph!"

"Silence!" Megatron growled at the seeker. "Starscream, do you know why you would never be able to lead the Decepticon army?" He asked, not even looking behind him to face the Seeker commander. "Because nobody has any form of respect for you. None at all. In fact, I believe that I have more respect for the likes of Frenzy or even that pitiful minibot Reflector than I hold for you." He grinned. "Not only that, but you are incompetent and have no idea of how leadership works, why I'd say that you wouldn't be able to lead androids to a picnic." Starscream growled slightly, he was sick of Megatron acting this way toward him, one day he would do something about it.

"My time will come Megatron." He muttered, gritting his teeth.

"Of course, just like I'm sure one day the Junkion race will conquer Cybertron." Megatron chuckled. "Starscream, get Skywarp and Thundercracker and prepare to attack the Autobot shuttle." He commanded.

"Yes Megatron." He said with an obvious tone of anger. "Skywarp! Thundercracker! Prepare to attack the approaching Autobot spacecraft!" He hollered. In mere moments, three tetrajets flew up over the moon's surface. Megatron and Soundwave watched.

"Do you wish that I accompany them Megatron?" Soundwave asked.

"No Soundwave." Megatron shook his head. "Wait here, I however will pay our Autobot guests a little welcome." He smirked as he lept from the ground and used the blast from his fusion cannon to propel him forward. Meanwhile aboard the Autobot ship they were fast approaching the moon and Ironhide was prepping the drop soldiers.

"Alright boys, this'll be pretty standard, just a few Seekers and a deployer. Nothing to worry about." Ironhide grinned. "Alright Wheeljack! Pull the switch!"

"You've got it 'Hide, good luck fellas!" Wheeljack saluted pulling the switch to open the door of the shuttle.

"Geronimo!" Ironhide lept from the shuttle, Jazz, Prowl, Hound, and Bumblebee followed. The five Autobots slowly descended toward the surface of the moon, manning their weapons.

"Alright men, if you see a Decepticon, kill it. Don't try to reason with it." Prowl loaded his blaster.

"And what do _we_ do if we see an Autobot?" Starscream laughed flying over them, firing at the five Autobots. "Skywarp! Thundercracker! Attack!" He ordered. Behind Starscream flew two tetrajets, one was black, purple, and silver, the other blue and red. The two transformed and began to attack the Autobots. The black, purple, and silver Seeker was known as Skywarp. A sly and mischievous Decepticon who had the ability to teleport anywhere he had previously been before, a handy skill to gain the upper hand in battle. The blue and red Seeker was Thundercracker. The most intelligent out of the three seekers who had the ability to use sonic thunder booms to blow back the enemy and heavily damage their senses.

"Seekers inbound!" Ironhide hollered seeing them swoop down.

"How perceptive." Skywarp chuckled, teleporting directly behind Ironhide and knocking him to the ground with a hard blow.

"I don't think so Decepticon!" Jazz charged at him, delivering a swift punch to Skywarp's face. Laughing in satisfaction before Thundercracker fired down at him.

"Take that Autobot!" He laughed as he began to engage in combat with Jazz. Meanwhile, Prowl was facing off against Starscream.

"I couldn't help but notice you bear the markings of a trine leader." Prowl remarked as the two fought. "If I didn't see that I would have thought I was battling a scout or even a generic Seeker." He trash talked.

"And if I didn't know better I would have thought I was battling an Autoscout." Starscream replied.

"Touche." Prowl nodded, firing at Starscream. Hound and Bumblebee had decided to team up and fight against Skywarp, unbeknownst to any of them, Megatron had made his way already to the Autobot shuttle and pried his was through the door of the bridge and was making his way to the hull, prepared to kill any Autobot that got in his way. His arrival did not set off any alarms however as he had developed a cloaking device for his energy signature. Which is also why they didn't pick him up on the scanner.

"Back already?" Wheeljack asked hearing footsteps, believing it to be the drop team. "How'd it go, stick it to them?" He chuckled.

"Not quite." Megatron said, the unfamiliarity of the voice made Wheeljack turn around. "But I'm prepared to." Wheeljack looked at the towering Decepticon in fear.

"Me... Mega... Megatron..." He said in fear, Megatron grinned menacingly.

"Glad to know that I'm still remembered." Megatron said. "Now get out of my way Autobot, before I blast you into sheet metal."

"I won't." Wheeljack replied firmly, standing in a battle stance. Megatron laughed.

"How noble." He chuckled. "Incredibly stupid, but noble never the less." He fired his fusion cannon directly at the Autobot, blasting him in half. Megatron laughed as be barged through the doorway, leaving Wheeljack's top and bottom half to drain of energon. Using the small portion of energy he still had, Wheeljack drug himself to the alarm and pulled it, allowing the others to be prepared for Megatron.

" ** _ALERT! ALERT! DECEPTICON THREAT WITHIN THE SHUTTLE!_** " The ship's computer, Teletraan 1 warned Optimus and the others.

"Pull up the security footage!" Optimus demanded, on the screens showed Megatron making his way though the shuttle. None of the Autobots could believe their optics.

"Is that..." Ratchet said in astonishment.

"It cannot be!" Skyfire said.

"Ratchet! Tell Ironhide and his crew to abort the mission and report back to the shuttle immediately!" Optimus commanded.

"Right away Optimus." Ratchet nodded sending out a signal. When he received the signal Ironhide commanded the Autobots to retreat back to the shuttle.

"The Autobots are gettin' away!" Thundercracker remarked seeing them flee back to their shuttle using booster packs.

"Let them flee, they won't last long." Starscream grinned. "Prepare an attack on the shuttle's thrusters! That shuttle and everyone inside will be destroyed!" He grinned, knowing that this plan would not only doom the Autobots but Megatron as well.

"Yeah, sure thing boss." Skywarp transformed and flew off toward the shuttle and Thundercracker followed behind. After letting out a sly chuckle Starscream followed them. Meanwhile within the shuttle, Megatron had made his way to the door to the ship's helm. He prepared his fusion cannon and blasted the door to bits, ready to take the ship for himself as his ticket back to Cybertron.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are..." Megatron said slyly as he made his way through the hull. "If you're lucky I may only take you prisoner."

"I would rather be offlined a thousand times before I let you take me prisoner!" Ratchet fired at him revealing himself. The shots were hardly enough to even dent Megatron's plating, this caused the Decepticon to laugh.

"You make me laugh Autobot, perhaps I will spare you." Megatron said. "Perhaps not." He prepared his fusion cannon.

"Do not concern yourself with him Megatron." Optimus Prime revealed himself. "It is me you want." He said pointing his blaster at the Decepticon.

"Well..." Megatron grinned. "I want to kill all of you, but I suppose you'd be a fun place to start." He pointed his fusion cannon at Prime instead, now fully charged and ready to fire. Before he could, he was shot multiple times in the back.

"Attack!" Ironhide hollered as he and the others began firing at him. Megatron turned and faced them.

"Such heroic nonsense." He snarled, firing at them, delivering a blast that knocked all five of them against the wall.

"No you don't Megatron!" Skyfire ran up to him, only to knocked back into the computer panel by a hard kick from Megatron.

"C'mon men! There's no way he can handle all of us!" Jazz charged at him.

"Underestimating my power is a foolish mistake." Megatron growled grabbing the Autobot and throwing him into the wall.

"Boarding this shuttle was a foolish mistake!" Prime lunged at him, knocking him over to the ground, beginning to punch him over and over.

"I don't think you know who I really am." Megatron grinned. "I have leveled cities, I have brought titans to their knees, _I AM MEGATRON!_ " He hollered nailing Prime in the face hard, sending him flying into the control panel.

"Optimus!" Ratchet said, running over to his leader. Megatron stood up and walked over to the Prime.

"Let this be a message to all of Cybertron, the Decepticons have returned, once and for all." He grinned wickedly, preparing to destroy Optimus Prime. "Farewell, Autobot." Just as he was about to fire, the ship jerked forward from a hard blast to the thrusters, sending everyone to the floor hard. Outside the ships, the three Seekers were firing at the ship's thrusters, causing a total engine failure.

"Glory to the Decepticon cause!" Starscream hollered firing one last blast at the ship's thrusters

"Starscream you fool!" Megatron radioed the Seeker. "I'm inside the ship!"

"Skywarp! Thundercracker! Return to base!" Starscream ordered as they flew off back toward their base on the moon as the shuttle descended in flames towards the Earth's atmosphere. From their base the three Seekers, joined by Soundwave watched the shuttle crash. Skywarp and Thundercracker celebrated their victory and Starscream just stood there with a grin.

"Wait, where's Megatron?" Skywarp suddenly asked.

"Megatron?" Starscream asked. "Oh, Megatron, he's gone."

"What?" Thundercracker asked.

"You see, he was aboard the shuttle when we sent it crashing down, he's most definitely going to die. For the sake of the war, it was a sacrifice we had to make." Starscream explained. "And now, as much as it pains me to say this, the Decepticons need to move on, we need a new leader, I nominate myself for that position." He grinned slyly.

"Megatron's demise was a product of conspiration." Soundwave spoke up. "Starscream is to blame." The two other Seekers looked at Starscream.

"Is this true?" Skywarp asked.

"What? No! Soundwave lies!" Starscream hollered.

"Negative. Starscream was clearly plotting to eliminate Megatron, his energy waves suggest it." Soundwave explained.

"You set us up in a plot to kill Megatron?" Thundercracker said angrily.

"You're listening to this dip-stick tape deck?" Starscream scoffed.

"Soundwave never lied before." Skywarp said. "You, on the other hand..."

"He lies all the time!" Thundercracker finished Skywarp's sentence.

"Affirmative. Starscream is an unreliable source for information." Soundwave nodded. "It would be best if we contacted Shockwave's team on Earth, perhaps they can find Megatron."

"We don't need to bring him into this!" Starscream said.

"Quiet you!" Thundercracker punched Starscream directly in the face.

"I have already sent a transmission to Shockwave." Soundwave said. "It is also best if we make our way to Earth, so that we may cover more ground in search of our leader."

"Good plan Soundwave." Thundercracker nodded.

"What about the backstabber?" Skywarp asked.

"It is too much of a risk to leave him unsupervised. Starscream must accompany us." Soundwave explained.

"You heard him, c'mon traitor." Skywarp picked up the Seeker harshly and Thundercracker slapped a pair of stasis cuffs on him.

"I can't transform with these!" Starscream growled.

"That's the point." Thundercraker said as he and Skywarp transformed and flew off. Soundwave grabbed Starscream by the arm and took off in flight behind the Seekers.

Meanwhile, aboard the shuttle, the battle between the Autobots and Megatron had stopped momentarily as the Autobots desperately tried to save their lives by fixing something, pressing a button, engaging something, but there was nothing they could do.

"Prowl! Aim for an unpopulated area!" Optimus commanded.

"I'll try sir." He nodded manning the helm. "Here. The Pacific Ocean."

"That will suffice." Prime nodded. "It has been an honor serving with you troops." He said to his crew.

"You Autobots are pathetic!" Megatron spat. "I'm out of here, perhaps I can still escape with my life!" He ran through the shuttle and opened the door for the bridge, quickly leaping from it as the ship rapidly plunged, but as he lept, the atmosphere took his toll on him, causing him to catch aflame and cause a failure in his systems. "No!" He yelled at he fell toward the ground, crashing down hard like a meteor. The shuttle crashed hard into the ocean and quickly hit the bottom of the ocean, the impact was enough to quickly put the entire crew into permanent stasis. That shuttle would lay dormant for another seventy five years...

* * *

California: 2018

"Seventy five years we've searched for Megatron, and still no sign of him all over this spark-forsaken planet!" The black and purple Decepticon car known as Barricade said in anger. Barricade was the Decepticon's scout. Able to sniff out a target from hundreds of miles away, the fact that it had been seventy five years without finding their target did not sit well with him.

"Perhaps the best bot hunter on Cybertron is finally letting his years catch up to him." Three minibots said in unison, all three of them looked the same, boxy grey bodies with green chests and purple helmets, all except the one who stood in the center of the three, his discerning feature was a large glass circle in the center of his chest. These three were known as Spectro, Spyglass, and Viewfinder. Nobody called them by their real names since they never cared enough to try and tell them apart, they were known by their combined name, Reflector.

"Who asked you for your opinion y'little creep?" The green and purple Decepticon known as Scrapper asked with no amount of respect for the little spy. Scrapper was known best for his engineering ability, if any Decepticon needed anything, he'd build it. The one cost would be having to deal with his less than jovial personality.

"Blah, blah, blah." The female Decepticon stepped forward interrupting Reflector before he could reply to Scrapper. "Honestly, you're all creeps, you're all creeps that give me a real ache in the processor at that." This female Decepticon was known as Blackarachnia, she was primarily black and purple with long gold spider legs sticking out of her back, her eight red eyes glowed in the darkness of the Decepticon hideout.

"For the last time I will request that all of you remain quiet." A cold emotionless voice said as a singular glowing red eye stepped out from the shadows. "We all want to find Megatron, but fighting within our ranks will not help anything." He said, this was the Decepticon Shockwave. A cold and calculated Decepticon who preferred the clarity of thought before rashness of action. He stood tall with a bright purple body, one arm brandished a cannon instead of a hand, and instead of a face, within his helmet was a singular optic.

"Because for the past seventy five years, _not_ fighting has done so well! Hasn't it!" Starscream spat within the confinement of his cell, laughing at the misfortune of his teammates.

"Quiet!" Frenzy snarled, prodding the Seeker. His cry of pain made him and his brother Rumble laugh.

"Good one Frenzy!" Rumble chuckled at Starscream's misery.

"When I get out of here, both of you will be melted down into metal for spare parts." Starscream growled.

"You'll be lucky if _we_ don't melt _you_ down for spare parts the day we let you out." Thundercracker sneered.

"Yeah! He's the one who got us into this mess in the first place!" Skywarp nodded.

"I still don't understand why you didn't melt him down then and there." Blackarachnia remarked.

"We figured Megatron would appreciate it is we let him do the honors." Skywarp explained.

"And since he's dead, and _has_ been dead for seventy five years what do you plan on doing with him? Because he's never coming back to melt him down." Scrapper crossed his arms.

"Megatron _will_ be found. Megatron _is_ alive. Megatron _will_ lead the Decepticons to victory." Soundwave said to Scrapper.

"Sure radio-head. And I'm cast from the mold of Alpha Trion." Scrapper said sarcastically.

"Silence!" Shockwave commanded. "Look at this." He pointed at a monitor he had been scanning. The Decepticons gathered around to see what he had pointed to. On the monitor was a human man in a fancy suit giving a speech at a large scale press conference, a stocky man in a lab coat stood beside him.

"When Isaac Sumdac came to me with these ideas, I thought he was nuts!" The human known as G.B Blackrock laughed as he gave his speech, G.B Blackrock was the head of Blackrock Enterprises, a company dedicated to coming up with the technology for military weaponry. The man who stood beside him, Isaac Sumdac, was the founder and CEO of Sumdac Systems, a robotics corporation that specialized in maintenance robots. But now, with the colaboration between the two companies, they had developed a perfect military robot.

"Tell the people where you had this idea professor." G.B said to Professor Sumdac.

"It just sort of came to me." He said. "I had always had one sense of inspiration for my technology, it was only recently that it inspired me to collaborate with Mr. Blackrock in an effort to create work for the military."

"And what a spectacular outcome it was when we put our minds together!" G.B nodded. "This robot will be the perfect assist in modern warfare, whether on land or in the skies." He explained. "Care to do the honors Professor?" He asked the stocky human.

"With pleasure." He nodded pulling down on the tarp covering the robot, this robot stood roughly thirty feet tall, had the visible wings and cockpit of a fighter jet, but coming up from his back was the turret of a tank. A blank expression on the face of the robot and a red visor sat where eyes would be.

"Introducing the prototype for the mechanical military aide Blitzwing! The key to gaining the upper hand in every battle, not even the Japanese have developed the technology for something like this yet!" Mr. Blackrock laughed. "Show them what you do Blitzwing!" He hollered. In drone like movements, parts and limbs shifted on the large robot until he formed a M1 Abrams Tank. The humans attending the conference all reacted in astonishment.

"Now wait, there's more." Isaac Sumdac said. "Blitzwing! Again!" The tank then shifted once more into a F-22 Raptor Fighter Jet. Even more applause came from the crowd as the jet shifted back into it's robotic form. The Decepticons, watching the broadcast exchanged looks.

"That... Blitzwing thing looks awfully Cybertronian." Thundercracker spoke up.

"You don't think..." Skywarp began.

"It is clear that those two humans are the answer to the whereabouts of our leader." Shockwave said. "Where else would they have discovered the technology nearly identical to that of our race?"

"So, if we find those guys..." Rumble began.

"We'll find the boss!" Frenzy nodded.

"Well then what are doing here then?" The Reflector units asked in unison.

"For once I agree with the creep triplets, let's go!" Scrapper nodded.

"Decepticons! Transform and rise up!" Shockwave ordered, the Decepticons all transformed and prepared to head out to crash that conference.

At the conference, four humans sat in the front row examining the large robot. "Pretty sick huh?" One teenage girl out of the four spoke up, she was tan skinned with two long red pigtails. "My dad happens to be half responsible for it." She said smugly, this human was Sari Sumdac, daughter of the engineer Isaac Sumdac.

"Careful Sari, you might hyper-extend your shoulder patting yourself on the back." The blonde haired teenage girl commented. "Besides, it was _my_ uncle who encouraged him to collaborate on the project." She smirked. This was Carly Blackrock, niece of G.B Blackrock.

"Though, it was her father who had the inspiration for the robotics that evolved into the project." A brown haired teenage male in a wheelchair spoke up. This was Chip Chase, probably the smartest member of the group of friends considering he had been accepted into college at the age of fifteen years old and now had a steady job at Sumdac Systems.

"Are you not just saying that because he's your boss?" The fourth human asked. This human was Spike Witwicky, he held no connection to the two entrepreneurs giving the presentation, he was just a friend of Chip's, soon after he met Chip he had befriended Carly and Sari. "Who cares who had the bigger part in this, that thing is amazing!"

"Amazing and potentially dangerous." A voice said behind them, behind them was the captain of the police force, Captain Fanzone. A heavy police officer with a bushy blond mustache and thinning hair. "Can't say that I really feel so great about our newfound reliance on technology. Can't say I've ever been too fond of machines in general."

"Come on Captain Fanzone, this robot will be a real handy military service!" Chip spoke up.

"You can never be certain." He said. As he said that, two F-15 Eagle Fighter Jets flew overhead at low altitude causing the crowd to look up.

"Nice touch on the airshow." G.B complimented Sumdac.

"I didn't call this in." Sumdac shook his head. "I though you did!" As he said that, more strange vehicles approached the area, a navy blue Conquest Knight XV pulled up by the stage, followed by a lime green and purple Case 621F front end loader and a sleek black 2018 Ford Fusion Hybrid police car. A sleek purple RAH-66 stealth helicopter hovered overhead. At this point people were starting to get confused.

"Alright what's going on here?" Fanzone asked. "Who called these vehicles in?"

"We called ourselves in!" The police car spoke up. "We are the Decepticons!" He said as the police car began to transform and morph pieces around until he became the Decepticon Barricade. "Fellas?" He called to the others. The blue Conquest transformed into Soundwave, the Case 621F became Scrapper, the helicopter transformed into Shockwave and the two F-15 jets transformed into Skywarp and Thundercracker. The crowd of people were confused and a little bit frightened.

"More experiments of yours Blackrock?" Fanzone asked him.

"No... I've... I've never seen anything like them before!" He said. Shockwave heard this and approached them.

"I find that hard to believe." He said. "That creation of yours is far too similar to our designs and engineering to possibly be coincidental."

"You have something of ours." Thundercracker crossed his arms.

"Yeah, and we want him back." Skywarp growled, pointing his arm mounted blasters at Blackrock and Sumdac.

 ** _To be continued..._**


	2. More Than Meets The Eye Part 2

**Author's note:** I really hope that people like this story, I've got big plans for it! Yesss, Wassspinator has planssss!

* * *

Chapter 2: More Than Meets The Eye Part 2

"We will only ask you this once, Earth germ." Shockwave pointed his cannon at Blackrock and Sumdac. "Where is Megatron?" The other Decepticons held their weapons, pointing them at various areas in the crowd, ready to shoot if anybody tried anything.

"Please! I have no idea what you're talking about!" Blackrock pleaded. It was true, he didn't have any idea just who Megatron was, but Professor Sumdac on the other hand...

"Wait!" Sumdac said. "Do not hurt him, I think that I can answer your question." He stepped in front of Blackrock.

"You know these things?" Fanzone asked the Professor.

"Them? No, but I have seen one, one not unlike them, and it could very well be this Megatron they are referring to." Sumdac explained. "It was thirty years ago when I first found it..."

* * *

Thirty years ago

"We figured you might be interested in this." An African American man told the professor from the front seat of a military Jeep. "Our men found it a couple of weeks ago, at first we thought it may have some connection to you, but we've never seen the insignia on any of your products." This man was Agent William Fowler. "It's unlike any of us had ever seen before."

"You say that it is some kind of robot?" Sumdac asked.

"Must be, couldn't identify it as anything else." He said as he pulled up to the site in the middle of the California desert outskirts. "Here we are." The two got out and walked over to the blocked off digging site.

"Professor Sumdac! Glad you could make it." A fresh faced military agent, no older than his late twenties said. This was Captain Lennox. "Looks dead, whatever it is." He pointed at the large metallic figure in the dug up crater, it was definitely Megatron, but he was in a state no Decepticon, except possibly Starscream would be pleased to see him in. The crash had nearly obliterated his abdomen, leaving his top and bottom halves connected only by his robotic spine, his face had been split in half by the crash, and the limbs that were still attached were badly damaged. His chest plate cracked in half down the middle.

"Y'want it?" Lennox asked. "It's too dead for us to care about. Maybe you could make some sense out of whatever the hell it is."

"Well, thank you very much gentlemen." Sumdac said. "I'm sure that I'll be able to make some use of it."

"Alright men! Load it up!" Fowler hollered at the troops, soon the large corpse of the Decepticon leader was hooked up to a couple military choppers and they hoisted it from the ground, flying it off towards Sumdac Systems, which as the time was being operated out of an old hangar. Since then, Sumdac examined the mechanics and engineering of the towering Decepticon, which aided him greatly in building his robotics empire, though he could never figure out how to resuscitate the Decepticon.

* * *

Present Day

"You will hand Megatron over. Now!" The Reflector units said hastily.

"Listen up," Fanzone stepped forward. "We aren't negotiating with terrorists."

"There is no negotiation." Soundwave said. "You will give us Megatron." He then dispatched Frenzy and Rumble, who pointed their blasters at Blackrock and Sumdac.

"Daddy!" Sari cried, feeling scared for her father.

"Sari, stay out of this!" He said. Skywarp and Thundercracker exchanged looks and grinned. Skywarp then grabbed Sari and pointed his blaster at her. Thundercracker did the same with Carly.

"Looks like the stakes have been raised." Barricade chuckled menacingly, he knelt down to speak to the humans. "You wouldn't want us to turn them into a million bloody pieces, would you?" The two men shook their heads, feeling frightened.

"This officially a hostage situation." Scrapper said. "Bring Megatron to us or the flesh creatures get it."

"You'd best do as he says." Skywarp grinned, pressing the blaster up against Sari's head.

"Put her down!" Spike yelled at the Decepticon seeker, punching at his leg. Skywarp laughed and pointed to Blackarachnia. Who picked Spike up and gripped him with her fist.

"Congratulations kid, you're a hostage too." She smirked.

"You'd best do as they say Sumdac." Blackrock said. "Surrender that thing."

"Very well." Sumdac sighed. "Just do not harm my daughter."

"Hand over Megatron and that shouldn't be a problem." Scrapper said.

"To ensure you do not go back on your agreement, Reflector shall accompany you." Soundwave pointed as the three Reflector units approached the professor, Reflector was the smallest of the Decepticons, with each unit standing no taller than six feet. Though as individuals they would appear to be weak little grunt Decepticons, the three of them together were a force to reckon with and an important use to the Decepticons.

"Let's go." The three units said in unison, two of them grabbing the professor by an arm and their leader, Viewfinder following behind them.

"Wanna start killing people for every five minutes they take?" Skywarp suggested. Thundercrasker scoffed and smacked him.

"We're Decepticons, not terrorists." He said.

"I haven't seen much of a difference so far." Blackrock muttered.

"You wanna know why I hate machines? _This_ is why I hate machines." Fanzone muttered to Chip, the only child that had not been taken hostage.

"Hey, _The Fat Blue Line_ , shut up." Scrapper kicked the human slightly, knocking him to the ground. The human muttered angrily under his breath as he got back to his feet. Meanwhile, Sumdac was overwrought with anxiety over what happens if these Decepticons had their supposed leader back, after all they did not seem like the friendliest bunch. But at the same time, they had his daughter, he needed to do this, but even if he got his daughter back, how safe would they be if the Decepticons had their leader back? He led the three minibots through his building until they reached his lab on the top floor.

"Right this way." He sighed as he punched a pass code into a panel beside the door, the door opened to reveal Sumdac's vast laboratory. In the center was a large metal body hooked up to various wires and cords.

"Megatron..." The three Decepticons said in unison with shocked expressions on their faces. Spectro and Spyglass released Sumdac and the three approached the leader. "Our leader..."

"As you can see I have salvaged all that I could, but there are still pieces missing." Sumdac said to them as they looked at the hanging shell of Megatron, he eased his way along the wall, formulating a plan that could possibly save his daughter and keep the Decepticons away from Megatron.

"No matter, he can be rebuilt." The three said. "Release him and we shall take him to our base of operations."

"Of course, of course." Sumdac nodded. "Ah! Here is the release switch!" He said as he pulled a switch, the switch did not however release Megatron, but trigger an alarm.

" ** _ALERT! ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!_** " The speaker blared as security drones flew out from hatches on the wall and targeted the Reflector units.

"Oh! There must be some mistake!" Sumdac shrugged as he ran from the room and shut the door to the lab, leaving the Decepticons in the with security drones. "That should hold them off for now..." He said as he began to flee down the hall.

"That dirty little..." Spectro growled.

"I'll kill him!" Spyglass cocked his fists.

/ _Reflector, what is taking you so long?/_ Shockwave commed to Viewfinder.

/ _The human cheated us, we are now under attack from security drones./_ Viewfinder commed back.

"He did what!?" Scrapper growled back where the other Decepticons were.

"The human seems to have gone back on his promise, he has unleashed security drones on Reflector." Shockwave explained.

"So? It's Reflector, who cares?" Blackarachnia asked.

"Those drones could potentially damage Megatron even more so." Soundwave said.

"Not to mention that, but it is a breach of trust. We had a deal!" Thundercracker growled.

"So? We break trust all the times, we're called _Decept_ icons, not Trustworthycons." Skywarp said.

"Shut up Skywarp." Barricade said. / _Reflector, your coordinates, now!/_ He commed. Viewfinder sent in the coordinates to Barricade. "Alright Decepticons, we've got a rat to catch!" He said as he transformed. Blackarachnia tossed Spike into Barricade's interior and Skywarp and Thundercracker shut Sari and Carly into their cockpits and transformed as they set out for Sumdac Systems.

"This is not good." Chip remarked.

"No kidding." Blackrock gulped.

"I've already called in police reinforcements." Fanzone said. "They'll meet them there."

"Have you seen those things?" Backrock asked. "You just damned them all!"

"Maybe, maybe not." Chip looked at the Blitzwing prototype. "How was this designed?" He asked Blackrock.

"Blitzwing was designed for a soldier to pilot..." Backrock suddenly realized what he meant. "But that hasn't been tested! Besides... you..." He motioned to Chip's wheelchair.

"I didn't mean me." He said as he looked at Fanzone.

"No! No way!" Fanzone shook his head. Despite his protests, he soon found himself harnessed in the suit with Blackrock giving him a rundown of the commands and controls.

"The suit watches your movements and mimics them, all you have to do is yell 'eagle' for the jet mode, and 'rhino' for the tank mode." He explained.

"This is a terrible idea..." Fanzone sighed.

"Be that as it may, it's our best option, that's my niece in danger, and Sumdac's daughter!" Blackrock said.

"And my best friend!" Chip added.

"Alright..." Fanzone sighed. "Eagle!" He hollered.

" _COMMAND RECOGNIZED, NOW TRANSFORMING."_ The computer said at the command and the machine shifted, soon Fanzone found himself piloting a jet with Blackrock and Chip following in his police cruiser. When they arrived to Sumdac Systems they saw the Decepticons laying waste to a police blockade that had been set up. "Whaddya yell to make it a robot?" Fanzone said through a radio to Blackrock.

"Transform!" Blackrock replied as they pulled up.

"Transform!" Fanzone hollered,

" _COMMAND RECOGNIZED, NOW TRANSFORMING."_ on that command Blitzwing transformed into robot mode. "Take this ya creep!" He punched Scrapper hard, knocking him back into a SWAT van. "Time to take out the trash!" He slammed a dumpster down on Barricade and kicked him down.

"Wow! He's charging through those creeps like a rhino!" Chip remarked.

" _COMMAND RECOGNIZED, NOW TRANSFORMING."_ The computer said as it began to shift modes.

"What!?" Fanzone remarked. "I didn't say squat!"

"Uh oh..." Blackrock groaned as Soundwave stomped on the front of the tank and bent the turret out of whack.

"Tanks for the memories." Blackarachnia chuckled.

"You've gotta be kidding..." Fanzone moaned as they pried the top open and tossed the human out.

"Storm the building!" Shockwave ordered. "Destroy whatever gets in your way!" Soundwave released all of his minions into the building and Blackarachnia followed them, Skywarp and Thundercracker took off into the sky for the top followed by Shockwave and Barricade, Scrapper, and Soundwave climbed the building King-Kong style.

/ _Anyone find them?/_ Frenzy commed through to the others.

 _/Reflector! Where are you?/_ Rumble commed.

 _/We're on the top floor!/_ Viewfinder commed back.

 _/You heard him men!/_ Barricade hollered. Once the Decepticons got to the top Rumble pummeled in the lab door.

"Here's Johnny!" He chuckled as he walked in.

"We've never been happier to see you!" The Reflector units said as they dodged fire from the sentries.

"Yeah and I've never been happy to see you at all." Blackarachnia said firing down the sentries with ease as the others made their way in, soon Skywarp and Thundercracker blasted through the outer wall and the two Seekers and Shockwave flew in and Soundwave, Scrapper, and Barricade crawled through the hole.

"Look who I found!" Frenzy hummed as Ravage and him walked through the door with Sumdac's collar being held in Ravage's mouth.

"Daddy!" Sari yelled from within Skywarp's cockpit on his chest.

"Quiet down twerp!" Skywarp growled.

"Thought you could go back on your deal huh Sumdac?" Scrapper asked pointing his blaster at him.

"What? No! Oh no no no no." He shook his head.

"Save it squishy." Blackarachnia growled. "Now, we're gonna kill you. But first, you have to fix him." She pointed at the shell of Megatron.

"I cannot! I do not know how your kind work!" He protested.

"I will provide you with what you need." Shockwave said. "You will rebuild Megatron and then he will kill you."

"But... but." Sumdac said.

"NOW!" Frenzy kicked him down.

"Very well... just... don't hurt my daughter." He sighed.

"We'll see." Skywarp chuckled. Hours later Shockwave had given him the necessary supplies and each Decepticon chipped in to their Energon storage and supplied the amount necessary to bring Megatron back online. He began working on Megatron and started working on his mind to try bringing it online. Soundwave pulled a switch on the wall that sent a surge into Megatron's head, after attempts and trial and error they managed to bring him back online.

"Megatron lives!" Shockwave exclaimed as the other Decpeticons cheered. The red optics on the head, long had been dark and dead began to glow and Megatron let out a yell coming back to life.

"Autobots... Optimus... Starscream!" Megatron's head growled before looking around. "What? Where am I? Where is my body?" He asked.

"Megatron my leader." Shockwave knelt and bowed to his leader, the other Decepticons followed suit and bowed.

"Bow you little germ!" Scrapper forced Sumdac on his hands an knees.

"Your body is under repairs my liege." Shockwave explained. "You crashed on Earth seventy-five years ago."

"What of the Autobots?" Megatron asked as breath came back to him.

"Never heard from." Skywarp chuckled.

"Autobots?" Sari asked herself.

"Good..." He coughed. "And Starscream?"

"We've been saving him for you boss." Rumble grinned.

"Excellent, how long until my body is ready?" He asked.

"Not too long now." Scrapper said. "I've been working on it with the little flesh creature, he's the one who's been keeping you here, we have him ready for you to kill once you're rebuilt."

"Why would I kill him?" Megatron asked.

"What? Of course you'd wanna kill him!" Thundercracker remarked.

"Why?" Megatron asked. "Why destroy a perfectly good slave?" The Decepticons exchanged looks and grinned.

"Brilliant idea Lord Megatron." Barricade nodded approvingly.

"I was worried there for a second!" Skywarp laughed. "The boss has still got it!"

"What happened aboard the Autobot shuttle Megatron?" Blackarachnia asked.

"After that fool Starscream shot it down in an act of treachery it began fall into the Earth's orbit, one of those Autobots said something about an ocean..." Megatron said.

"The ocean?" Sari thought. She whipped out her phone and texted Chip, knowing he hadn't been captured. Outside, Fanzone, Blackrock, and Chip were tending to the injured officers when Chip's phone buzzed.

"The Autobots?" He asked as he read the text.

"What?" Fanzone asked.

"Sari just texted me from within the lab, apparently the Decepticons got Megatron back and he asked about these things called the Autobots that must have crashed here as well." He said.

"So what?" Fanzone asked.

"Well, from what she could tell the Decepticons and Autobots don't get along all that well, maybe if we were to find them they might help us!" Chip said. "The Decepticons don't seem friendly, so if they don't get along one can assume the Autobots are good?" He shrugged.

"That's pretty far fetched." Fanzone replied skeptically.

"Just yesterday you would have thought the Decepticons were far fetched, the kid has a point." Blackrock said. "And I think I know where it happened, around the same time Megatron crashed something else landed in the ocean too, most experts assumed it was a meteor, but now..." He thought. "Come with me." An hour later Blackrock, Fanzone, and Chip were in a submarine submerged in the ocean.

"Being a millionaire definitely has its perks." Blackrock laughed.

"Where is this ship?" Fanzone asked.

"According to the scans I found we should be right on top of it." Blackrock replied putting on scuba gear and tossing a web suit to Fanzone.

"No way!" Fanzone said.

"Yes way, come on, I'll need a hand." Blackrock said.

"Fine..." Fanzone sighed slipping on the suit.

"Think you can take care of the sea-beetle when I'm gone?" Blackrock asked Chip.

"I guess." The teenager shrugged as Fanzone and Blackrock left the submarine and swam downward. When the approached the shuttle they found the bridge still open, they swam through the large dark metal canal and into the bridge room where a large top half of a robot hung from the wall. Where his eyes were were dark and his arms hung motionless and limp.

"Creepy." Fanzone remarked.

"Sure is, here, gimme a hand." Blackrock said picking up a metal beam and prying into the other door. When the two managed to open the door a buzzer sounded and lights suddenly came on and the bridge shut, the water that filled the bridge room drained from the vents, revealing that the air tight shuttle was dry throughout.

"Guess we don't need these any more." Fanzone removed his scuba mask. "After you." He motioned to the open door. The two men walked through the large metal hallway, despite laying dormant for almost a century there was no dust considering the ship was airtight and underwater. "This is officially weirding me out." He said.

"Same." Blackrock nodded. "Think these are the Autobots?"

"I sure hope so." He said. "If they are I sure feel bad for that one guy back there, what do you think happened to him?"

"Nothing good." Blackrock remarked as they came to an open doorway to a large room. "Whoa..." He remarked, in the room lay nine large metal bodies all long dead and dormant.

"These must be the Autobots they were talking about." Fanzone said. "Shame their all about as good as dead."

"This is hopeless." Blackrock sighed. "Carly is doomed!" He punched the wall in anger and picked a computer panel. Suddenly another alarm buzzed and a torpedo like object shot up from the ship into the sky. " _EXPLORE! EXPLORE!"_ The small orange satellite said as it flew threw the air. Suddenly a beam shot out from one one the concel and various metal arms popped out from the wall, grabbing one of the broken and destroyed Autobots. " _REPAIR! REPAIR!"_ The machine blared as it put pieces together on the large red and white Autobot, eventually assembling something resembling a red and white Cirrus Vision SF50. The jet transformed into the Autobot Skyfire, his eyes glowed blue as he stretched his limbs.

"What happened?" He asked himself looking around.

"Hide!" Blackrock growled as he grabbed Fanzone and they hid behind a crate.

"Optimus..." Skyfire looked at Optimus and drug his corpse into the beam, the arms picked up the body and began to repair it into a red and blue 2014 Freightliner Argosy. The truck slowly transformed and the Autobot leader stood up, with all his previous glory restored and a new life breathed into him.

"Thank you Skyfire, what happened?" He asked. The Autobot just shrugged and shook his head.

"I don't know... I suddenly woke up repaired, something must have triggered the Sky-Spy considering our new alternate modes." Skyfire explained.

"We triggered it." Blackrock stepped out despite Fanzone trying to hold him back. Prime and Skyfire quickly turned to face the small organic creature.

"And who are you?" Skyfire asked.

"I am Garrison Blackrock." He said. "We came searching for the Autobots, the ones known as Decepticons have attacked us and they're currently holding my friend and my niece hostage, ready to eliminate them. I understand that..." Optimus cut him off.

"If the Decepticons are here and attacking your people we must take immediate action! Skyfire and I will revive the other Autobots and we will accompany you to the scene." Optimus said with a sense of urgency.

"Right on it Optimus." Skyfire nodded. One by one the Autobots were repaired until all the Autobots that were in the hull were revived and operational, well, all but one.

"Wait, where's Wheeljack?" Prowl asked.

"I haven't seen him since the encounter with Megatron." Ratchet remarked.

"Wait, was he the dead robot we found on the bridge?" Fanzone asked, causing the others to turn and look.

"What?" Optimus asked.

"Yeah, there was this freaky looking massacre of a sight hanging from the ceiling." He explained. "C'mon, I'll show you the way." He led them out to the bridge where they saw Wheeljack's upper half, hanging lifelessly from the ceiling, his bottom half nowhere in sight.

"Wheeljack..." Bumblebee remarked solemnly.

"Megatron must have gotten to him when he boarded the shuttle." Hound said.

"That must be the case." Prime nodded sadly. "But, the battle wages on, Ratchet!" He called.

"Yes Prime?" Ratchet answered.

"I want you to stay behind and see what you can do about Wheeljack, perhaps he can be saved as well." Optimus said.

"It won't be easy, we can't just use the Sky-Spy and the Autorepair unit considering his legs are nowhere to be found, but I'll do my best." Ratchet nodded.

"Excellent, Autobots, let's roll!" Optimus pumped his fist as they all fled from the shuttle and drove through the water using built in propelling units for aquatic driving purposes. Fanzone and Blackrock had taken a seat withing Prime's alternate mode. Both still a little on edge about the sudden alliance with these beings after ones just like them had attacked them. When the Autobots drove up onto the beach and made their way to the main road, with Skyfire flying overhead Prime spoke to Blackrock. "We'll need directions to where the Decepticons are located!" He said.

"Uhh Prime?" The yellow 2013 Volkswagen Beetle known as Bumblebee spoke up. "Don't think that'll be necessary, look!" Dead ahead was the tower of Sumdac Systems, a giant hole in the top was visible and Skywarp and Thundercracker were visible through it. The cherry red Nissan Xterra transformed into Ironhide and began to run, aiming a blaster at the Decepticons.

"I'll get 'em!" He hollered.

"Ironhide no! We cannot endanger the humans!" Optimus ordered. "Once we get closer we can come up with a plan."

"We wouldn't want to send the wrong message Ironhide." The green Military J8 Jeep known as Hound spoke up.

"We're a bunch of giant robots about to beat the tar out of other giant robots in a city far too small for that sort of thing, it would be impossible _not_ to send the wrong message." The blue 2017 Sauber C36 that was Mirage spoke up with a tone of sarcasm in his voice.

"That's enough arguing." Prime ordered. "Autobots! Transform!" He commanded, the eight Autobots transformed and looked up at the tower that not stood before them. Skywarp and Thundercracker looked down and saw them.

"What in the pit!?" Thundercracker remarked.

"It's the Autobots!" Skywarp said.

"What?" Barricade coughed. "How long until the body is done?" He asked Scrapper.

"It's done now, coincidentally." Scrapper remarked. "Slap his head on and we'll pay our little guests a welcome!"

"Wonderful." Shockwave carried the head of Megatron to his new body and attached it, sending a powerful surge through the entire body, jerking it to life. Megatron opened and closed his fists a couple of times, observing his new body, looking quite similar to his previous one but even larger.

"Brilliant handiwork as always Scrapper." He commended. "Now, let's say hello, shall we?" He smirked. He walked up to the hole in the wall, and fell almost motionless, before landing in a super-hero like stance on the ground, punching his fist deep into the pavement and standing to his feet with an evil grin. "It has been so long." He grinned.

"Not long enough." Prime glared. "Autobots, attack!" He ordered.

 ** _To be continued..._**


	3. More Than Meets The Eye Part 3

**Author's note:** Third and final chapter of the introductory arc!

* * *

Chapter 3: More Than Meets The Eye Part 3

"It has been so long." Megatron grinned, arming his fusion cannon.

"Not long enough." Prime glared. "Autobots, attack!" He ordered. The seven other Autobots immediately charged their weapons and began to fire, unbeknownst to them however that an attack on them from the skies was about to take place courtesy of Shockwave, Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, Skywarp, and Thundercracker, who had left their human captives with Reflector.

"Decepticons inbound!" Ironhide remarked firing up.

"Careful! We cannot harm the humans!" Optimus reminded. "Jazz! Bumblebee! See what you can do about rescuing the hostages!" He ordered.

"You got it Prime!" Jazz nodded swinging his grappling hook up, grabbing Bee as he pulled himself up. "Cover me, will you?" He asked.

"I'm on it Jazz!" The scout nodded. Frenzy and Rumble could see the two Autobots making their way up the building and began to fire, only to be shot down by Skyfire.

"You owe me one!" He said flying by his comrades.

"How about you fly us up the rest of the way and we'll owe you two?" Jazz asked.

"You've got it." Skyfire agreed. "Hop on!" He hovered below them. Jazz released his grappling hook and the two landed on top of Skyfire's jet mode, who flew them up to the top of the tower. The two Autobots hopped off and into the lab, quickly gaining notice from The Decepticons.

"Autobots!" Barricade growled.

"What? Where?" Bumblebee said sarcastically before arming two powerful arm mounted laser weapons he referred to as "stingers" and began to fire volts at Barricade.

"You're a feisty little Scraplet aren't you?" Scrapper growled taking aim at Bumblebee, only to be fired on by Jazz.

"Take that green-mean-machine!" Jazz chuckled.

"Clever." Blackarachnia said behind Jazz. "If only your reflexes were as fast as your mouth." She said before sticking two of what her spider legs would be into Jazz's shoulders and sending a strong electric shock through him, rendering him unconscious.

"Jazz!" Bumblebee remarked before firing off at Blackarachnia. / _Bumblebee to Optimus Prime! Bumblebee to Optimus Prime!/_ he said through the com to Prime.

/ _What is it Bumblebee?/_ Optimus commed to Bumblebee as he fought with Megatron.

/ _I could use a hand up here! Jazz is down for the count./_ Bumblebee commed.

/ _Mirage and Hound will be with you momentarily, over and out!/_ Prime commed.

"Must we?" Mirage sighed, overhearing Prime's words.

"Yes!" Prime said with a little bit of agitation.

"C'mon!" Hound grabbed Mirage by the arm as he ignited his rocket pack, flying up to the lab.

"Pretty pathetic, two of your troops are overpowered by my Deceptcons, all those cycles free of war must have made you soft!" Megatron laughed as he fought Prime.

"I must remind you, the Autobots won the war for Cybertron, and we will win whatever war you intend on starting." Prime growled as they kept fighting.

"We'll just have to see if you can put your ammo where your vocal processor is." Megatron snickered evilly, blasting at Prime with his fusion cannon. Prime dodged the blasts, leaping over the array of debris now scattered across the streets they were battling. Thinking up a solution to gain the upper hand, Prime grabbed a pickup truck that had long been abandoned when the Decepticons invaded the area and tossed it at Megatron, knocking him down onto his back, but not for long as it only angered the Decepticon more. The Decepticon seemingly sucked his right hand into his arm, and in it's place a spiked glowing purple mace hanging by a chain. He grinned and began to swing it back and forth, approaching the Autobot.

"You think you're the only one with a party trick Megatron?" Optimus asked, seemingly doing the same thing with his hand but over the mace out came a bright orange battle ax. "You destroy everything you touch Megatron!" He growled approaching him.

"That's because everything I touch is fuel for my hunger..." Megatron growled. "My hunger for power!" He swung at Optimus, missing by only a couple of inches.

"Well the I'd say it's time to end that hunger once and for all." Prime said as he swung the ax at Megatron, but as he was about to hit him Megatron dodged and laughed.

"Almost Prime, but almost doesn't get the job done!" He swung and connected with a hard blow, knocking Prime back into the building. But Optimus was persistent, he stood up again to his feet, hardly paying attention to the wound on his abdomen.

"You're old Megatron, yesterday's model! Ready for the scrap-heap!" Prime trash-talked approaching Megatron.

"We'll see who's ready for the scrap-heap!" Megatron growled charging at Optimus, in his rage, Megatron didn't see Prime preparing a hard swing with his left arm, which upon collision blew Megatron back into a series of parked cars.

"Junk." Prime scoffed. "That's what you are, junk!"

"Have you ever seen Optimus like this?" Skyfire asked Prowl as they watched Prime and Megatron from the sideline.

"Can't say that I have." Prowl remarked.

"I have." Ironhide said proudly. "He was just a youngin' back during the war, but of course that was back when we called him-" Ironhide was cut off.

"Not a great time for war stories!" Skyfire said as Skywarp and Thundercracker flew overhead, firing down at them.

"Autobots, attack!" Prowl announced as the three began firing up at the Decepticons. Meanwhile, up in the lab Bumblebee, Hound, and Mirage were holding their own against the Decepticons, with Jazz gradually coming back to it.

"You know, for someone who doesn't like to fight, you're not bad Mirage!" Bumblebee complimented him as they fought.

"Mhm." He simply said as he fired down Barricade.

"Rumble, Frenzy, Ravage, eject!" Soundwave announced as the three minispies flew from his chest cavity.

"Ready to shake, break, rattle and quake!" Rumble laughed charging at Hound.

"Wait wait, now there's even more of them?" Spike asked from the corner they were being held.

"They seem to be fighting the mean ones, maybe they're here to rescue us!" Sari suggested. "Woo-hoo! Go new guys!" She cheered.

"Quiet you!" The Reflector units growled.

"I take it those are the little creatures we're here for?" Mirage asked Bumblebee.

"I'd say so." Bumblebee nodded.

"We'd better get some a _mazing_ recognition for this." Mirage scoffed as he kept firing at the Decepticons. At this point all that were left was Soundwave, his cronies, and Reflector, Barricade, Scrapper, and Blackarachnia were down for the count. At this point Jazz was up on his feet and joining in the battle.

"What did I miss?" Jazz asked as they fought.

"Hound and I coming in to save your sorry aft." Mirage muttered. "You can thank Prime for that, I didn't volunteer."

"C'mon Mirage! This is what it's all about!" Bumblebee tried to cheer the Autobot up.

"Senseless violence is not what it's all about." Mirage groaned.

"Not a good time for arguing!" Hound called as he fought the micro-cassettes.

"Soundwave superior, Autobots inferior." Soundwave said coldly.

"How's this for inferior?" Mirage appeared after using his invisibility to get behind him, kicking him down and tackling him.

"Go Mirage!" Bumblebee cheered. He, Jazz, and Hound joined in fighting Soundwave and eventually overpowered the mech, they drug Soundwave to the open hole in the wall and looked down at the others.

"Ready?" Jazz asked Hound.

"Ready." He nodded.

"One... Two... Three!" They said in unison as they tossed Soundwave out of the building and down to the ground, crashing down hard.

"Boss!" Frenzy said, feeling scared for his master and he, Ravage, and Rumble fled to Soundwave, leaving Reflector alone in the lab. The four Autobots approached the three little Decepticons and grinned.

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way." Bumblebee grinned.

"It's your choice." Jazz crossed his arms with a smirk. The three little grunt Decepticons exchanged looks and gulped.

"Retreat!" They said in unison, fleeing out of the lab. Leaving the humans free with the Autobots. The four humans exchanged looks and looked up at the Autobots.

"Who are you?" Sumdac asked.

"We're the Autobots little man." Jazz chuckled kneeling down to talk to the Earthlings. "It's cool, we're the good guys."

"We're here to help!" Bumblebee smiled, suddenly behind them, they could hear Scrapper, Blackarachnia, and Barricade groaning and coming to.

"If we're gonna do that we'd better get out of here fast!" Hound remarked as the three stood up. The four Autobots transformed and opened their doors.

"Get in!" The sleek white 2018 Porsche 911, who was Jazz said. Carly and Spike quickly hopped in and Sair and Sumdac hopped inside Bumblebee. The four vehicles sped out of the lab and down the vast halls of the building.

"They're getting away!" Scrapper growled.

"After them!" Barricade pointed, soon the three were chasing the Autobots down the halls.

"Okay! I'm a little new to these things so someone's gonna have to give me directions!" Bumblebee said as he sped down the halls.

"This building wasn't made for vehicles." Sumdac said. "There is no way out while driving."

"That seems like information that would have been nice a couple nano-clicks ago!" Mirage said angrily.

"Easy, we'll just have to think of something else." Hound suggested.

"Like what?" Mirage asked.

"Like this!" Bumblebee said. "Hang on! Fasten your seat belts!" He said as he sped for an entirely glass outer wall.

"What!?" Sumdac asked in shock. "No no no no no no!"

"Yeah! Woo hoo!" Sari cheered as he sped up and crashed through the window, the Beetle was now speeding forward, descending rather quickly through the air as Sumdac screamed in horror and Sari screamed in a sense of thrill. Jazz, Hound, and Mirage were following after, the four vehicles were now falling to the ground, down below, the others looked up.

"Is that...?" Prowl asked.

"What are those darn fools doing!?" Ironhide remarked.

"They've got the humans!" Skyfire added.

"What!?" Blackrock heard. "My niece is plummeting to her death in a sports car!?"

"Not necessarily." Fanzone added. "She could be in the Jeep."

"What are we going to do!?" Ironhide asked.

"The Autobots will be able to survive the landing, the humans would not." Skyfire said. "I know!" He had an idea. He transformed and flew off, soon under where the Autobots were falling, he transformed and braced for impact, catching the Beetle and the Porsche in his hands, using the thrusters on his back to hover as Mirage and Hound transformed and landed safely. Skyfire gradually decreased the power of his thrusters, descending safely to the ground and setting the two cars down.

"And who's lapse in judgement was that?" Prowl asked.

"That would be Bumblebee." Mirage said, acting all buddy-buddy with his parole officer. "I was against it from the start." He said, hoping to watch Prowl chew somebody else out for a change.

"Good work on rescuing the humans Bumblebee." Prowl said. "Just... think of a better plan next time." He crossed his arms. Mirage stood there in a disappointed form of awe at how little the young Autobot was reprimanded. Ironhide noticed this and began to laugh, earning a cross look from Prowl. "Not the time." He said.

"What about the other Decpeticons?" Hound asked.

"We took care of that." Ironhide grinned. "Easy feat, I've been on trigger happy son of a glitch for stellar cycles now." He chuckled.

"And Megatron?" Bumblebee asked.

"See for yourself." Prowl pointed, there Optimus and Megatron were still fighting, neither showing showing a sign of growing weary. Though deep down, Prime was starting to grow wearier.

"Give it up Megatron!" He growled.

"Never!" Megatron fired off at him.

"Let's not just stand here!" Ironhide said. "Let's help Optimus!" He ordered.

"Autobots, attack!" Prowl pointed as the seven Autobots charged toward Megatron, firing at him from behind, sending him to the ground.

"Take this Mega-bum!" Bumblebee jumped onto the Decepticon leader, normally, Megatron would indeed have the strength to take on eight Autobots and more, but he was only given just enough Energon to come back online, not to fight a group of Autobots. Megatron growled and tossed the Autobot scout off of him, sneering at the Autobots, he knew if his current state that he was indeed outnumbered. He looked around, the Autobots had actually manage to overpower the others! He knew that he wouldn't be able to win this battle on a tank as low as it was, the leader was forced to swallow his pride.

"Decepticons! Retreat!" He bellowed loudly to his warriors, slowly his various warriors began to get up as the group took to the skies. Skywarp and Thundercracker carrying the now battered and bruised Blitzwing prototype. As the Decepticons flew off the Autobots cheered and the humans ran out from their hiding.

"There goes millions of dollars." Blackrock sighed watching the Decepticons make off with their mecha suit.

"But Mr. Blackrock, I must remind you there are more important things than that." Sumdac pointed out. "We may have lost the suit, but our loved ones are okay." He said as hu hugged his daughter.

"Dad!" Sari said in embarrassment.

"You're right." Blackrock nodded as he embraced his niece. "I'm glad you're okay Carly."

"I wasn't worried for a second Uncle Garrison." Carly said coolly. Suddenly, a car pulled up by the tower and a stocky middle aged man in a motor oil stained shirt came out, slamming the door.

"Spike? Spike are you okay?" The man asked in a worried tone as he approached his son, this was Spike's father, Samuel Witwicky. Though he was commonly referred to as Sparkplug, considering that was the name he had given his auto-repair shop, "Sparkplug's Garage".

"I'm okay Dad, really." Spike said reassuringly.

"I had saw what went down on the news with those giant robots and-" He suddenly stopped, noticing the Autobots standing before the group of humans. "Why are there more of them?" He asked.

"Dad, these are the Autobots, they rescued us." Spike explained.

"Greetings." Optimus Prime addressed the humans. "My name is Optimus Prime, I lead the team of Autobots that have been sent to your part of the galaxy to protect your planet from the Decepticons, who are the ones who tried to harm you." Prime said. "I do apologize for any damage they have caused you." Prime addressed Sumdac and Blackrock.

"It's no problem, I can get a team down here and it'll be like nothing ever happened this time tomorrow." Blackrock boasted.

"Excellent." Prime nodded. "As long as your leaders allow it, we will make planet Earth our temporary home until we can rid your world of the Decepticons once and for all." Prime explained.

"I'm not government official, but I doubt you being here will be an issue." Blackrock said. "What do you think Fanzone? As chief of police you'd have a say in the matter." Captain Fanzone looked at Blackrock, then at the Autobots, then at the rubble and debris on the ground before sighing.

"I suppose they'd have my vote." He said. "But it's against my better judgement."

"That's the spirit!" Chip grinned.

"Well fellas, looks like we're here to stay." Jazz grinned.

"At least for now." Prowl added.

* * *

Three Days Later

"I'm sorry we could not find a better place for you to have a base of operations." Professor Sumdac told the Autobots as they were packing into their new temporary Earth home, which was a large, long vacant warehouse that was once used to build the Sumdac Systems machinery.

"This will do nicely Professor." Optimus reassured him. "We all are quite grateful for your kind welcome to your planet."

"Yeah, thanks Professor!" Bumblebee nodded as he sped by, enjoying the wide open flooring of the building.

"Just say the word and I'll have a crew come in and make the nicest base of operations you could ask for." Blackrock suggested. "No amount of zeroes is too many."

"That won't be necessary, we have everything we need already." Optimus said.

"Not to mention I finally got the energy signature cloak up and running." Ratchet pointed out. "The Decpeticons will never know we're here."

"But we'll always have an eye on them." Prowl remarked. "We just got Telatraan One up and running, I've got to say with Wheeljack out of commission the job was long and tedious." He remarked.

"How is he anyway?" Hound asked Ratchet, who hung his head and sighed.

"He's online, thank Primus, but barely. When we got to him his Energon readings were at 0.73 percent, I was able to get them to a stable level with some of the fuel reserves in the ship, but he's still in stasis." Ratchet explained. "Not to mention there was no sign of his bottom half anywhere, I even searched within a fifty mile radius across the ocean floor."

"At least he's online." Optimus said. "You've done well Ratchet." He commended the medical officer.

"Thank you Optimus." Ratchet nodded with a slight smile.

"Hey fellas!" Chip called from where Prowl was standing at Teletraan One. "It's playing the broadcast about you guys!" The nine Autobots and the humans gathered around to see what the mayor had to say from the press conference.

"As far as I am concerned..." The mayor began. "Anyone or anything that is here to protect us from the menacing brutes that caused the incident at the Blackrock-Sumdac press conference is welcome here. I have spoken with the chief of police who agreed that we would now be working alongside the Autobots, as allies." He announced, resulting in various press reporters to take photos and raise hands for questions, causing Fanzone to step out and dismiss the crowd, demanding there be no questions.

"Good to know we've got a place to call home." Bumblebee smiled.

"For now." Ironhide added. "Just until we can get the Decepticons away from Earth."

"Primus only knows how long that will be." Mirage said.

"However long it will take, we will do it together, as a team." Prime addressed his troops. "Till all are one!"

"Till all are one!" The Autobots repeated. Meanwhile, in the Decepticon's hidden fortress Megatron stormed around angrily.

"Those pathetic Autobots have one little victory and now these Earth germs treat them like heroes, well... soak it all in Optimus Prime..." Megatron growled. "Sooner rather than later it will all be taken away from you, that I guarantee." He turned. "Shockwave! What is your progress on our new warrior?"

"Nearly complete Megatron, though his mechanisms for transforming did not coincide with the other parts required to make him one of our own, I merely took the transformation cog for him from Starscream, after all, he won't be needing it." Shockwave explained.

"That is true enough Shockwave." Megatron looked to a sulking Starscream in his cell. "That is true enough." He let out a bellowing evil laugh.

"I _hate_ when he does that laugh." Starscream rolled his optics in disgust.

* * *

 _And that concludes the More Than Meets The Eye trilogy! I hope you enjoyed it, I'll be back with more chapters soon enough. Till all are one!_


	4. The Trouble With Twos

**Author's note:** Everyone knows new characters are a sign of running out of ideas. Anyway, enjoy this chapter with new characters!

* * *

Chapter 4: The Trouble With Twos

"Perfect. This is just perfect." Ironhide grumbled as he awoke in his vehicle mode, seeing his windshield covered in parking tickets. "Can't a bot take a stasis nap without getting plastered with parking tickets?" He groaned as he transformed and brushed off the collection of papers. He suddenly felt something wet and warm trickling onto his foot, he looked down to see one of the Earth creatures known as a dog urinating on his foot. He grumbled as he armed his blaster, wishing he could blast the infernal creature into the next eon, but sighed, knowing that that would be terrible publicity for the hero image that had been created for him and his team. Suddenly, having revealed himself as one of the Autobots a crowd of humans started to form around him.

"Hey it's one of the Autobots!" One human said.

"Is it the yellow one?" Another asked.

"How do you see when you turn into a truck?" A human asked him.

"Where does your head go when you turn into a truck?" Another asked.

"Can you _only_ turn into a truck? How about a plane?" Another asked.

"Alright alright, hold on here." Ironhide addressed the humans. "I can answer all your questions, just one at a time..." Suddenly Ironhide's com-link stared alarming. /Ironhide here./ He commed.

/Ironhide, I see you're in the area, that's why I contacted you./ It was Prowl.

/What's happening Prowl?/ Ironhide asked.

/We've got a disturbance in the area, couple of reckless drivers./ Prowl told him.

/Why's that my job?/ Ironhide asked.

/Most the police are busy, this is California after all./ Prowl commed. /Consider this a publicity stunt./ Ironhide simply rolled his optics.

/I'll be on my way./ He commed.

/Great. Sending coordinates now./ Prowl said, soon enough, a set of coordinates appeared in Ironhide's inner computer.

/I see 'em, Ironhide out./ Ironhide turned the com-link off and transformed. "Thank Primus, I didn't wanna answer those stupid question." He muttered as he sped off. "Let's see... reckless drivers..." He was stopped at a four way intersection near the coordinates. "I don't see anything." he began to drive forward, suddenly a pair of sports cars sped past him, almost colliding with him. "Aaaand there they are." Ironhide grumbled as he began his pursuit. There was no way he was going to catch them, he wasn't built for speed, the cars he was after were. His best bet was trying to reason with the drivers. "Pull over!" Ironhide hollered. The two drivers didn't listen, in fact they sped up. "Oh for Primus sake..." He grumbled before he commed Prowl again. /Prowl! Requesting back-up, preferably Jazz or Mirage or someone with a fast alt mode./ He said reluctantly.

/Slowing down in your old age huh?/ Prowl commed. /Jazz is on his way. Over and out./ Ironhide grumbled feeling annoyed at Prowl's comment. Soon enough he saw Jazz's sleek white Porsche alternate mode speed up beside him.

"Hey Ironhide, what's shaking?" Jazz asked.

"Got a pair of speed seekers, I didn't think it was that big a deal, Prowl did." Ironhide replied.

"Sounds like Officer Grump alright." Jazz agreed.

/You do know that your com-link is on right?/ Prowl commed Jazz, without reply Jazz turned off his com-link.

"Heh..." Jazz chuckled. "I think I see 'em, I'll get them!" Jazz sped up to them, now neck and neck with the street racers. They were both the same model, 2018 Lamborghini Aventador, the only difference was color, one was a bright yellow with the license plate "SUNNY" the other was cherry red with the license plate "SIDES". "Hey fellas! What do you say we find you a nice offroad track?" Jazz asked the two sports cars.

"I'm gonna say no." A voice came from the yellow one. "Dirt is absolutely _terrible_ for my finish."

"Besides! Road tracks are _way_ more fun!" The red one added.

"Well then we're gonna have to do this the hard way." Jazz sighed, transforming about halfway to propel himself from the ground with his arms to get just ahead of the twin racers. He blocked the two sports cars, stomping onto he hood of the yellow one.

"Hey!" The voice from the yellow car complained.

"Now, step out of your cars and come along quietly." Jazz instructed as Ironhide pulled up, finally having caught up with them.

"You'd best do as he says." Ironhide said as he transformed.

"One problem with that Big Red." The voice from the red car said as he opened his doors. "No driver."

"Wait, so that means..." Jazz said.

"Yeah! We're Cybertronian! Autobots! Just like you!" The voice from the yellow car said. "Now get your foot off my hood!" Jazz slowly removed his foot, and with that, the two twin cars transformed into robots, standing about equal height to Jazz. In robot mode the two looked almost identical in build except for their chest and heads. where the red car used the hood to form his chest, the yellow one used his roof and windshield. The red one had a blocky helmet with short horns and the yellow one had long black fins with yellow stripes sticking out of his helmet.

"Sorry about that." Jazz apologized to them for the inconvenience.

"I'm not! What in the pit did you think you were doing? You could have killed somebody!" Ironhide growled.

"Relax." The red twin said to Ironhide. "We've been here for a real long time, we know the ropes of this world."

"Sure have." The yellow one nodded. "I'm Sunstreaker." He extended his servo to Jazz, who shook it. "Charmed I'm sure."

"Name's Sideswipe!" The red one extended his servo to Ironhide, who declined. "Okay." He took it back awkwardly.

"We've been waiting for some Autobots to show up." Sunstreaker said. "I'll admit that being stuck on this rock with just this mech has been rather tiresome."

"Well why don't you come on back to base?" Jazz offered. "We've got plenty more for you to meet." Suddenly Ironhide grabbed him by the shoulder.

"I'm not sure that's a great idea." Ironhide said. "They could be Decepticon spies or something!"

"Please, this one a spy?" Sunstreaker cut in, pointing at his brother. "Sometimes he can't even remember how to transform." He laughed.

"Hey!" Sideswipe cut in. "But... yeah. It's true."

"Well then come on!" Jazz transformed. "Let's get going!" He sped off, the twins transformed and followed, and Ironhide after muttering a few choice words did the same. Once Ironhide and Jazz got to base with the new Autobots they transformed and called for all the other Autobots nearby. The seven Autobots gathered around, Spike, Chip, Carly, and Sari were also there as they had begun to develop a friendship with the Autobots.

"Optimus, we've got a couple of bots here you should meet." Jazz said, motioning to the twin Lamborghinis. "Alright fellas, transform!" The two sports cars transformed and stood before Optimus Prime. "Optimus, meet Sideswipe and Sunstreaker." He motioned.

"Greetings." Prime welcomed the two Autobots. "I am Optimus Prime."

"No. Fragging. Way!" Sideswipe grinned. "You're Optimus Prime? That's totally wicked!" He beamed.

"He's a fan of yours." Sunstreaker explained.

"No kidding." Ratchet crossed his arms. "What exactly are you doing here?" He asked.

"Can I tell it?" Sideswipe asked his brother. "Lemme tell it!"

"Go ahead." Sunstreaker sighed.

"Okay, so we used to be members of this ship thing, right? Just a team of fifty. Anyway, we were off on a peace-keeping mission or some scrap like that." Sideswipe explained. "Anyway, our ship was attacked by this group of Cons, ship goes down, Sunstreaker and I use an escape pod, we end up here, now keep in mind this was a good couple hundred Earth years ago. We've been here for a _long_ time." He said.

"The nineteen eighties were by far the best years though." Sunstreaker added.

"Oh yeah for sure." Sideswipe nodded.

"You've been here for that long? How come we never caught your signals?" Prowl asked.

"Oh, yeah, those were sorta damaged in the landing." Sideswipe explained.

"We had to rebuild ourselves with spare parts." Sunstreaker nodded.

"But anyway, we were just cruising down the streets of New York City, we see this news thing about Autobots in California, we just had to come down!" Sideswipe. "Didn't know that we'd be meeting Optimus Prime though!"

"You're meeting him alright!" Bumblebee smiled at the twins. "Welcome to The Autobot Earth Headquarters!"

"Humble little place isn't it..." Sunstreaker remarked. "I just thought this was a remote meeting place..." He looked around at the rather dingy factory.

"It's cozy." Skyfire said. "I think they're still a few free rooms, but we actually double up, just to conserve space in case of occasions like this."

"The room with the skylight is still free." Bumblebee said.

"That's a hole in the ceiling." Mirage corrected Bumblebee.

"Wait... what?" Sunstreaker asked. "No... no no no." He shook his head.

"What do you mean, no?" Prowl asked.

"I mean, we aren't staying." Sunstreaker shook his head.

"We're drifters, ever since the attack on the shuttle we decided it's best not to get involved in this whole Autobot/Decepticon thing." Sideswipe explained. "Great to meet you sir!" He saluted Optimus Prime.

"So long. It's been a pleasure, y'know, at least for you, meeting me and all." Sunstreaker said as he began to turn around. As he began to stroll away with Sideswipe behind him, another human stood before them with his police car parked behind him, this of course, was Captain Fanzone.

"And who are these two?" Fanzone asked.

"Hey Squishy, name's Sunstreaker. Ciao!" He transformed and revved his engine. "C'mon Sideswipe!"

"Ah-ah-ah." Fanzone shook his head. "You two ain't going anywhere." He instructed. "All the Autobots stay at the base provided for them, easier for me to keep watch." Sunstreaker transformed and laughed.

" _You_ are watching over _us?_ " Sunstreaker laughed. "That's rich!"

"Sunstreaker." Optimus stepped forward. "This is Captain Fanzone. He is the representative between the government and the Autobots."

"Not by choice." Fanzone sighed.

"Representative?" Sideswipe asked.

"It means that Prime's working for them." Sunstreaker told his brother.

"We aren't working for the humans." Hound crossed his arms. "We're working _with_ the humans."

"To do what exactly?" Sunstreaker asked.

"We help them in whatever issue they need, and protect them from the Decepticons." Bumblebee explained. "I take it you saw that part on the news too, _I_ was the one who rescued the hostages." He said with pride.

"Oh, now I see, you're a neighborhood watch?" Sunstreaker asked. "No. Thanks."

"Sorry Sunstreaker, but our agreement requires you stay here with us." Optimus said.

"I don't mind that!" Sideswipe said. "I'd love to stay here with you guys, especially if I get to work under you Prime!" Sunstreaker just sighed.

"Fine. But only to look out for my brother." He said reluctantly.

"I figured you'd agree." Fanzone smirked. "Come with me." He led them off to an office he had set up in the factory, this is where he would set up a profile on the two so the government could recognize them as allies.

"Names please." Fanzone said.

"I'm Sideswipe!" Sideswipe said almost immediately.

"And what about you lemon zest?" He addressed Sunstreaker.

"My name is Sixshot, I'm a Decepticon bot-hunter with six different modes." Sunstreaker said sarcastically.

"Name please." Fanzone repeated, sounding annoyed.

"Sunstreaker." He grumbled.

"Alright, color..." Fanzone mumbled. "Red... Yellow..." He jotted those down. "Okay, alternate mode?"

"Sports car." Sideswipe answered.

"Toaster." Sunstreaker muttered.

"Sports car for both..." Fanzone jotted down. "Okay, so, any special abilities I should know about? Flight? Turning invisible?"

"None to report." Sideswipe shook his head.

"I have a force-field projector, but it always messes up when I need to use it." Sunstreaker said dryly.

"Okay, listen Sunbeam, the sarcasm is not appreciated." Fanzone said feeling more annoyed than before.

"None to report." Sunstreaker groaned.

"Alright, the rest is pretty basic, I can fill it out. Just need you two to line up at the wall for measurements and headshots." Fanzone explained. Sideswipe eagerly stood up and lined up on the wall, grinning widely for the photo.

"Looks like you measure up at about sixteen feet." Fanzone remarked. "Okay Sunburn, your turn."

"It's Sunstreaker." He growled as he lined up against the wall. "Is this necessary? We're the same size."

"We still need the picture." Fanzone replied. "Smile." He instructed, Sunstreaker did not however smile. "There we go." He said. "Lookit that, you _actually_ measure to fifteen feet and nine inches."

"Wonderful." Sunstreaker rolled his optics. "Can I go now?"

"That'll be all." Fanzone nodded as he watched the two twins leave the room.

"Isn't this exciting Sunstreaker? We're part of a team again!" Sideswipe grinned.

"It's great." Sunstreaker muttered. "Sideswipe, don't you remember what you said earlier? We're drifters! We don't _do_ teams anymore."

"Yeah but..." Sideswipe stopped. "This is Optimus Prime we're talking about, the guys a hero! I'm not just going to pass up a chance to work under him!"

"I'll never understand that about you." Sunstreaker sighed as he went off to look around the base. As he walked around in solitude he walked into a green Autobot that was slightly taller than him with a big grin on his face.

"Oh! Sorry there new guy, almost bumped into you there." Hound said with a signature grin.

"Everybody gets one." Sunstreaker tried to make a joke. "You know, for an Autobot with military insignias and a giant shoulder cannon you seem oddly... friendly."

"Well, that's because I'm a geologist, not really a warrior." Hound explained. "The military stuff came with the alternate mode."

"I see." Sunstreaker nodded. "So... I guess I'm stuck here, care to tell me what the best available room is?"

"Well, and this is just me." Hound said. "But the room with the hole in the ceiling is actually quite nice, I actually wanted it for myself but Ironhide wanted another room so I settled." He shrugged. "I don't know, just the whole idea of watching the stars as you power down then coming online to the glow of natural light."

"Thanks... I'll keep that in mind." Sunstreaker said. "I'll have to see what Sideswipe thinks, I'll probably be rooming with him."

"Probably." Hound nodded. "Anyway, I know you don't wanna be here... you aren't alone."

"You do too?" He asked.

"What? No! I love it here!" Hound shook his head. "Mirage, he doesn't want to be here, see, he was drug along because Prowl was selected, he's his parole officer."

"You brought along a criminal?" Sunstreaker asked.

"Well, no." Hound said. "Maybe. We don't really know, Mirage claimed he was framed, but there's not much proof."

"Oh. Good to know you're trying to make me friends with a possible convict." Sunstreaker remarked.

"We don't know that for sure." Hound chuckled. "Just... he doesn't have a lot of friends, none of the others trust him much, I feel bad for him. And I figured that since you both aren't thrilled about this you'd have something to connect over." Hound explained.

"I'll keep that in mind." Sunstreaker nodded. "Look, I'd rather just, be on my own for now."

"Of course." Hound nodded. "I'll see you around!" He walked off.

"Sadly enough..." Sunstreaker sighed as he wandered off. He walked alone through the base, sometimes walking by other Autobots or the few humans around the base, he had now seen that Sideswipe had quickly become pals with the youngest of this team, Bumblebee. He chuckled a little watching his brother have fun, he was happy that Sideswipe finally had some more friends other than himself, after all it had been hundreds of years since Sideswipe had seen any other Cybertronian life other than Sunstreaker. Sunstreaker never really felt happy for others, often he considered everyone else as lesser beings, even his superiors like Optimus Prime or even Ultra Magnus, but Sideswipe he saw as an equal, a partner, a friend. Other than that Sunstreaker had never cared to make other friends, on Cybertron, aboard the shuttle, ever. Sunstreaker was all Sideswipe had and Sideswipe was all Sunstreaker had. Ever since the shuttle took off it had been that way, he didn't want this to change that. Sunstreaker sighed and continued his walk, climbing up the inner stairwell to the roof to clear his head. He walked along the roof, coming to a ledge, he brushed it clear of any dirt or contaminants and sat down.

"Your brother seems to get along well with this, why not you?" A voice suddenly asked behind him. Sunstreaker jerked up and looked behind him, seeing a sleek blue and white Autobot standing before him. "Sorry to startle you." He said as he approached him.

"It's... fine." Sunstreaker said feeling curious as he arched his eyebrow. "And who are you?"

"I'm surprised you haven't heard of me." He said sitting down beside him, this bot was young, no older than he and Sideswipe were, but at the same time he was much older than the little Autobot Bumblebee. "After all, I am the criminal in the ranks." He sighed.

"Oh, you're Mirage." Sunstreaker said. "Hound told me about you."

"Why does that not surprise me?" He muttered. "Let me guess, 'Mirage is a real creep. Can't trust a bot who disappears, a bot like that would have something to hide.' Something like that?" Mirage asked.

"No, actually." Sunstreaker shook his head. "It was more like. 'Mirage doesn't have any friends, bots don't like him because he's a criminal, maybe you two might hit it off' or something, if I'm being honest I wasn't completely listening." Mirage just chuckled.

"Sounds like Hound, I tell you he'd try and convince you Megatron himself is a nice bot." He said.

"I believe it." Sunstreaker nodded. They both just sat there quietly for a moment, watching the world of busy humans pass by.

"It doesn't take the likes of a bot like Perceptor to know that you don't really want to be with Prime's team." Mirage spoke up. "What's the deal with that?"

"It's not really for me, it's for Sideswipe." Sunstreaker explained. "I can hold my own, but I worry about him. Ever since we crash landed in the escape pod bis neural processor hasn't quite been the same, time still passes, but he doesn't really grow, he'll pretty much be an adolescent fraternity bot forever. So I guess I kind of see it as my job to look out for him."

"How noble." Mirage remarked.

"And you're here because Prowl brought you?" Sunstreaker asked.

"Sure am." Mirage said. "I was ripped from my comfortable life on Cybertron for this because of a crime I didn't commit."

"Comfortable huh?" Sunstreaker asked.

"Big house with a four car garage type comfortable." Mirage chuckled looking back. "Then one day, a couple of officers knock on my door and before I know it I'm in the stockade... stellar cycles went by, nobody ever testified in my favor or paid bail, eventually I was let out on probation with Prowl as my parole officer, then he was selected by Optimus and I was drug aboard the shuttle. I'm an aristocrat, not a warrior, violence is stupid, war is stupid. My luck is stupid." Sunstreaker just looked at him in silence before speaking up.

"Yeah, your luck _is_ stupid." Sunstreaker said with a slight chuckle.

"Thanks, really needed that." Mirage looked out at the world.

"Don't take it all too hard." Sunstreaker said. "Listen, I always carry around a couple bottles of high grade in my subspace, care to share some?" He offered.

"For a bot who's been nothing but a jerk to everyone since he's arrived this is surprising." Mirage remarked.

"Call it a change of heart, call it not wanting to drink alone, I don't really care. Are you in or not?" Sunstreaker asked.

"Deal." Mirage nodded.

"I had a feeling you'd see it that way." Sunstreaker chuckled as he took a bottle and poured some into a pair of tiny Energon cubes. He handed one to Mirage and lifted his up. "To stupid luck." He toasted.

"To stupid luck." Mirage toasted as they drank. From afar, Hound stood and watched with a slight grin on his face. Prowl stood next to him and crossed his arms.

"You didn't tell me they'd be drinking." Prowl scolded.

"Just let him have it." Hound said. "Say, what'd Mirage get locked up for anyway?" He asked Prowl.

"Classified information." Prowl said coldly.

"Do you think he did it?" Hound asked.

"It's not my place to say." Prowl replied. "But... I _hope_ he's innocent."

* * *

 _Which brings us to the end of the first non-introductory arc chapter of Transform and Roll Out! Hopefully you enjoyed it and enjoy seeing some new faces. We'll be back sooner rather than later. Until next time!_


	5. Jack's Back

**Author's note:** So now that we have two new Autobots to work with, lets have a chapter about a character who's been here since chapter one!

* * *

Chapter 5: Jack's Back

"Oh Primus... my aching processor..." Skyfire heard as he organized various tools and gadgets on a shelf in Ratchet's medical chambers, the voice came from the med-bay. Skyfire immediately turned to see Wheeljack's head looking around. "Skyfire?" Wheeljack asked, recognizing Skyfire despite the slightly different body since he received an Earth based alternate mode.

"Wheeljack!" Skyfire remarked. "You're... you're online!" He rushed over to Wheeljack, who was still just a torso with a head on top, no bottom half in sight. "Ha ha! This is terrific, I'll go and get Prime and Ratchet!" He ran off. Wheeljack just sat there in silence, he went to sit up, but upon succeeding, he flopped forward onto the floor of Ratchet's medical bay.

"Ow..." Wheeljack muttered. "Primus, they bring me back from near death and don't even bother to find my legs." A few moments later Skyfire was leading Ratchet and Optimus, with Prowl into the medical chambers. Ratchet looked around, not seeing Wheeljack on the large metal bed.

"So... not only did he wake up, but he disappeared?" Ratchet asked.

"What? No! He was just here, I swear!" Skyfire replied. "I just... I don't know where he went."

"I'm down here on the floor, some help up would be appreciated." Wheeljack said dryly. Skyfire and Ratchet ran up to the limp torso and lifted it up onto the bed. "Hiya Ratchet, Prowl, good to see you again Prime. Liking the new body armor."

"Good to see you functioning again Wheeljack, we were worried you'd never come out of stasis." Optimus said.

"You kiddin? Takes more than a blast to the gut and a stasis nap to keep ol' Jack down." Wheeljack chuckled.

"This is the Autobot who has blown himself to smithereens on several occasions after all." Prowl noted.

"Good point Prowl." Skyfire nodded.

"Skyfire, alert the other Autobots, they'll be happy to know our team mate has made a recovery." Optimus instructed Skyfire, who nodded and ran out, soon the room was flooded with the other Autobots, not only that, but four small flesh creatures. Wheeljack saw that some of these faces were new. Two Autobots he had never seen before stood before him and the four small humans were new to him.

"Heh... hi everyone." Wheeljack looked around. "Who are you two?" He pointed at the twin Autobots.

"Name's Sideswipe!" The red Autobot smiled. "Bumblebee told me about you, happy to see you back online!"

"And I'm Sunstreaker, Sideswipe's older brother." The yellow Autobot explained.

"Older?" Sideswipe asked.

"Yes." Sunstreaker nodded.

"By like forty five astroseconds maybe!" Sideswipe retorted.

"Alright..." Wheeljack nodded, before looking at the small flesh creatures. "And you?"

"Wheeljack, these are Spike, Carly, Chip, and Sari." Optimus explained.

"They mill about the base when they have nothing else to do." Prowl explained. "Which is a little too often."

"Hey!" Sari whined.

"I see..." Wheeljack nodded. "A lot's happened since I almost ended up in the big ol' parking lot in the sky hasn't it?"

"Well, it has been around seventy five stellar cycles." Ratchet explained.

"But you haven't missed too much." Bumblebee smiled. "We just came online a couple solar cycles ago."

"So that explains why I don't have my legs back." Wheeljack remarked.

"Pretty much." Ratchet nodded. "Not to mention we didn't have the spare parts, I've started them, but it'll take a while." Wheeljack sighed.

"How long until their complete? I'm kinda missing mobility." Wheeljack said.

"A few moral solar cycles, they'll be top priority not that you're back online." Ratchet said. "But in the meantime, I may have a temporary solution."

"Not those." Wheeljack shook his head.

"Do you want to move or not?" Ratchet grinned going to a cabinet on the wall and pulling out a set of makeshift legs. There was a long pause from Wheeljack before he sighed and nodded reluctantly, moments later he was up and standing again, with a pair of legs that looked absolutely ridiculous on him, they were long and thing cylinder shaped legs with rounded semi-circles that stood on the flattened side for feet. As he walked around, the legs shook considering that Wheeljack's body was too big for the thin legs. A couple Autobots, mainly Sunstreaker and Mirage chuckled watching the scene.

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up." Wheeljack scoffed as he struggled out the door to look around.

"Hey Spike, remember that show Futurama?" Chip asked his friend.

"I was just about to say the same thing!" Spike chuckled, remarking at how similar Wheeljack's new legs looked so similar to that of Bender from Futurama.

"Take it easy on him, I can only imagine all this was quite a bit to wake up to." Optimus instructed.

"Just wait until he finds out we don't have the scrap metal to make the legs from." Ratchet nodded.

"How much would you need?" Spike asked up. "My dad should have plenty at the repair shop."

"Decent quality?" Ratchet asked.

"Should be." Spike nodded.

"Alright." Ratchet transformed and opened up his doors. "Hop in Spike." Spike hopped into the ambulance that once was Ratchet and shut the door. The ambulance rushed out of the warehouse and onto the highway, speeding faster than a regular ambulance would. "You wanna know a little trick I learned?" Ratchet asked.

"What's that?" Spike gripped the arm rest.

"If you start blaring that handy little siren that came with my alt mode the traffic moves out of the way!" Ratchet laughed as he sped up.

"That's not... exactly... legal..." Spike groaned, feeling a wave of motion sickness coming on.

"Oh boo." Ratchet scoffed as he slowed down a little. "Now, I have not clue where your dad's repair shop is, care to give me directions?"

"Take the exit here, down the road, left at Burger Bot, big garage on the right, you can't miss it." Spike instructed.

"You've got it." Ratchet said as he kept driving, before long they were there, despite Spike saying that he couldn't miss it, Ratchet almost did. "My optics just aren't what they used to be." Ratchet chuckled. As Ratchet pulled up Sparkplug ran out of the garage, feeling shocked at the sight of an ambulance pulling up at his home.

"Is everything alright? Can I help you with something?" Sparkplug approached the reflective windows of the ambulance, the window rolled down revealing Spike.

"Hey dad, could you spare some metal?" He asked.

"Spike? What are you doing in a..." Sparkplug stopped. "Oh, lemme guess, one of those Autopods or something."

"That's Autobot." Ratchet corrected as Spike got out. He then transformed and stretched his arms. "I'm Ratchet, the medical officer among the ranks."

"Riiight." Sparkplug nodded. "So you're looking for some metal?" He asked.

"Enough to build a pair of legs for a bot a bit shorter than me." Ratchet nodded.

"Right this way." Sparkplug led them to the junk pile in the back. As he led them, he took Spike's arm and led him away for a moment. "Look, Spike, I've been meaning to talk to you about this." He began.

"What's that dad?" Spike asked.

"Just this... them." He pointed at Ratchet.

"What about them?" Spike asked.

"It's just... these robots, the war thing, it's all just... dangerous." Sparkplug sighed. "I don't like the idea of you being in the middle of all of it. I mean, you were already thrown in the middle, you got out alive thank God but who knows when you won't be so lucky?"

"Dad, I know what you're saying, but I've become friends with the Autobots, they'll make sure I'm safe." Spike said.

"I'm your father, I'm trying to keep you safe now." Sparkplug replied.

"Mr. Witwicky, if I may." Ratchet cut in. "Sorry, I have amazing audio receptive capabilities, I heard every word." Ratchet stepped over to them. "Listen, we will make sure to do everything we can to ensure your son's safety. We can even assign him a guardian if you like."

"Perhaps that may be a good idea." Sparkplug sighed. "I'm still reluctant to allow it, but... you are almost a man, it's your choice." Spike smiled a little.

"Thanks dad." He smiled.

"But your curfew is still the same and I expect you to keep up in school." Sparkplug said sternly.

"I will dad." Spike nodded.

"Good." Sparkplug smiled.

"What a cute family moment, almost reminds me of my maker and I." Ratchet remarked. "Not really, I never knew my maker, though I'm pretty sure he was a pair of servos on an assembly line."

"These robots have a real dry sense of humor don't they?" Sparkplug asked.

"Not all of them, just some." Spike chuckled.

"Now how about that metal?" Ratchet asked.

"Right this way." Sparkplug led him to the scrap metal pile. By the time they left, they were off with enough metal for Wheeljack's legs and another small Autobot. Sparkplug accompanied them along in his tow truck hauling some of the metal. When they arrived Ratchet transformed as Spike and Sparkplug got out and starting moving the metal to the workshop. Wheeljack noticed this and remarked at the state of the metal.

" _That's_ what you're making my legs from?" Wheeljack asked.

"Keep whining and your legs will be made of wood." Ratchet replied.

"I don't even know what that is." Wheeljack said. "Is that good or bad?" He asked Chip, who was sitting nearby.

"Are wooden legs good or bad? Or is the fact that you don't know what wood is good or bad?" Chip asked.

"Alright smart-aft." Wheeljack scoffed. "The legs thing."

"Bad, for you anyway, entertaining for everyone else." Chip replied.

"I have a feeling these human things weren't the best choice of pets." Wheeljack muttered.

"Hey! I'm not a pet!" Sari snarled.

"Yeah! She's not a pet." Bumblebee defended.

"Oh Primus." Wheeljack shook his head. "I'm gonna go make sure they make my legs right." He got up.

"Is he normally grumpy?" Sari asked watching the Autobot leave.

"Actually no. It must be the leg thing, that and he's operating on the bare minimum amout of energy to be online." Skyfire explained.

"Kind of like my uncle before he has his coffee in the morning." Carly said.

"I don't know what that is, but sure." Skyfire nodded.

"I'm pretty sure it's like their Energon Skyfire." Hound said.

"They get intoxicated off of it?" Skyfire asked.

"No." Carly shook her head.

"They bleed it?" Skyfire asked.

"No." Chip shook his head.

"They require it to survive?" Skyfire asked.

"That'll work." Carly nodded.

"Hey Skyfire! Care to lend a servo?" Ratchet called.

"That's my cue to leave." Skyfire told Sari and Hound as he left for Ratchet's workshop. Soon enough the metal was melted down and put into the mold for Wheeljack, after the metal cooled the legs were constructed and wired.

"You should consider yourself lucky I brought my repair kit." Ratchet remarked as he wired the legs and added the pulleys and hinges. "I'll have to contact Cybertron to get more parts later, especially since we've got upwards of ten Decepticons on this planet."

"How many?" Wheeljack suddenly.

"Upwards of ten, I don't know the specific number, besides, once word gets out Megatron has finally made himself known as a threat again, you just know more are going to show up." Ratchet explained.

"Shouldn't we be receiving reinforcements? We don't exactly have a team of fighters, I don't think Prime, Jazz, Prowl, and Ironhide can handle _all_ the Decepticons." Wheeljack remarked.

"Well, we don't exactly _have_ any contact with Cybertron yet, we've gotten Teletraan up and running thank Primus, but the communication system isn't in full range." Ratchet explained.

"Well _that's_ just terrific." Wheeljack said sarcastically.

"Alright you big grouch, we'd better get some more Energon in you and these legs hooked up, we already have Ironhide and Prowl being grouchy." Ratchet chuckled as he chipped off any excess metal on the legs. "We should be all set, I'll put in your electronic paint-job and then we'll be all set."

"Thank Primus." Wheeljack nodded. "And I resent that first statement."

"Okay Bender." Skyfire chuckled, having been shown an episode of Futurama by Chip when Spike and Ratchet were out.

"Shut up." Wheeljack laid down on the table.

"Okay cranky." Ratchet chuckled. "Night night time." He said as he injected Wheeljack to put him into a temporary stasis to get the legs attached and synced with his inner computer. He then grabbed one of the few Energon cubes they had brought on the mission, it was more than enough to fill up his energy reserves and then some. "The extra should lighten his mood a bit." Ratchet chuckled to Skyfire as he whipped out his blow torch and began to weld the abdomen to the waist. When the process was complete they hooked a set of what seemed to be jumper cables on an even higher scale to Wheeljack and pulled a switch, bringing him back. Wheeljack jumped up thrusting himself from the large metal bed and onto his feet.

"Now THAT'S more like it!" Wheeljack laughed as he jumped up and down and kicked his legs. "Now I'm feeling up and at it. Good to have the ol' kickers back too!" He chuckled as he rotated his ankles and bent his knees.

"Is this the same Autobot that woke up a couple cycles ago?" Spike asked.

"Talk about a personality switch." Sparkplug nodded.

"Watch it tiny, this mech's got a new lease on life! Ha ha!" Wheeljack laughed as he dashed out, eager to transform again and go for a drive.

"Wheeljack wait!" Prowl hollered, chasing after him. Knowing he needed to select an Earth based alternate mode and get basic human training on traffic laws. He was eventually able to catch up with him, after Wheeljack had caused a few minor collisions. "Alright speed racer, back to base." Prowl ordered.

"Fine." Wheelkjack sighed. Back at base a few of the other Autobots talked, happy to see their friend acting himself again, regardless of the damage he may have just caused.

"I don't get it, I thought Wheeljack was old." Sideswipe admitted.

"He is. His body type hasn't been produced on Cybertron since a vorn after the war for Cybertron ended." Sunstreaker said.

"Wheeljack is by no means the youngest Autobot, actually he's as old as Ironhide and I." Ratchet explained. "But, he's always been a little chipper than most, energetic, eccentric, happier than one would think, and unlike his logic processor that hasn't faded over time." He chuckled.

"My logic processor is fine." Wheeljack said as Prowl led him back. "I just missed getting to run, and jump, and transform, and all that stuff."

"Speaking of which, how _did_ you survive?" Prowl asked. "We checked the security footage, Megatron did a real number on you."

"Easy, lemme tell you." Wheeljack said.

* * *

Orbiting Earth's moon, 75 years ago

"Back already?" I asked hearing footsteps, obviously I thought it was our drop team. "How'd it go, stick it to them?" I chuckled.

"Not quite." I turned around to see Megatron. "But I'm prepared to." I looked up and gulped

"Me... Mega... Megatron..." I said Megatron grinned menacingly.

"Glad to know that I'm still remembered." Megatron said. "Now get out of my way Autobot, before I blast you into sheet metal."

"I won't." I replied firmly, standing in a battle stance. Megatron laughed.

"How noble." He chuckled. "Incredibly stupid, but noble never the less." He fired his fusion cannon directly at the me, blasting me in half. Megatron laughed as be barged through the doorway, leaving my top and bottom half to drain of energon. Using the small portion of energy I still had, I drug myself to the alarm and pulled it, allowing the others to be prepared for Megatron, you're welcome by the way.

" ** _ALERT! ALERT! DECEPTICON THREAT WITHIN THE SHUTTLE!_** " The ship's computer blared as I quickly shifted my hands into tools for small repairs and began to patch up the rapidly leaking energon.

"C'mon, c'mon..." I began to patch the holes up, at this point my armor was hot enough that it was at the right melting point for mending. suddenly the ship jerked forward from an outside attach and I was thrown against the wall. I knew I had to make the best of the situation and began to chill my outer layer to the wall itself, it did work and I was able to block the leaking, but my energon readings were incredibly low, the ship began to fall into the planet's atmosphere, when I saw Megatron run through I made sure to appear as dead, ironically enough to survive. Unlike the rest of you, I actually survived the crash being attached to the wall and all. Soon the room began to fill up with water, I knew eventually the water would seep into my computer, so I put myself into a shut down mode and sealed off my inner workings, what I didn't know was that since my readings were so low that it would put me into a stasis like position that I couldn't get out of.

* * *

The present

"Next thing I know I wake up on a big ol' slab to see Skyfire, and then you know the rest." Wheeljack explained, wrapping up his story.

"We're very glad we were able to bring you back my friend." Optimus nodded happily. "Now, Wheeljack. It is time to familiarize you with life on Earth."

"Can't I just get a rundown from Teletraan?" Wheeljack asked.

"You _could._ " Jazz said. "But where's the fun in that? We've got real Earthlin's here to help with that." He motioned to the humans.

"Fine..." He looked around at the various humans. "How about you?" He pointed at Sparkplug. Who looked up quizzically at Wheeljack.

"Oh, well I'm really just here to uh-" Sparkplug began.

"He'd _gladly_ help you out Wheeljack." Optimus nodded. Sparkplug shot a look at Spike and sighed.

"Alright." He said. Wheeljack then transformed, still into his alien looking sports car mode and opened his door for Sparkplug to get in.

"You coming?" Wheeljack asked. Sparkplug sighed a little and sat down in the Cybertronian vehicle. The alien car sped out and the two ere off.

"So uh..." Sparkplug asked as they drove. "If you're from a planet without humans why do you have seats and an interior?" He asked.

"That's an easy one." Wheeljack replied. "See on Cybertron we had these things called Minicons, they were roughly the size of you guys, if we linked with them they'd often pilot our interiors. As luck would have it, it seems to be similar here, when a car picks a human they ride around inside them."

"That's... not exactly how it works." Sparkplug shook his head. "Cars aren't living things here, we manufacture cars and then sell them to humans, there's no 'linking' or stuff like that."

"Oh, I see." Wheeljack said. "So, what do you think?" He asked.

"About?" Sparkplug asked.

"What type of car should I pick for a disguise?" He asked.

"Well... I dunno, I'm not overly fond of them but it seems like you'd work well for a flashy sports car based off your size, you definitely aren't an SUV and you're too big to be a compact." Sparkplug explained.

"Okay... Hmm, lessee." He drove around looking for a sports car to become when a 2017 Ferrari 488 zipped past him. "That's what I'm talking about!" He remarked as he sped up to tail it, once he did, a scanner shot out from Wheeljack, scanning the car. Moments after, parts on Wheeljack shifted and merged until his once alien looking interior replicated that of the sports car and the outside looked identical to the car that passed except white with red and green racing stripes. "Huh? What do you think?" He asked the human.

"Like I said, I've never been big on sports cars, but I'll admit this is pretty nice." Sparkplug nodded.

"Pretty nice? I look great!" He chuckled as he sped up. Sparkplug clutched the hand grip on the door as he sped up.

"I think now's a good time to go over traffic laws!" Sparkplug moaned.

"Oh boo." Wheeljack scoffed. After a hearty lessons on what signs and lights to stop at and that those numbers on the sign were speed limits, not gentle recommendations Wheeljack was ready to be a road worthy vehicle, though Sparkplug got plenty of attention as most passing by thought Wheeljack was his car. Back at the base Fanzone was there and was ready to fill out Wheeljack's report.

"Name?" Fanzone asked.

"Unicron, conqueror of worlds." Wheeljack replied.

"Name?" He repeated.

"Wheeljack." He said.

"Ack, I do not envy him." Sunstreaker remarked as he passed the room with Mirage and Hound.

"I know I hated that." Mirage nodded.

"I wouldn't have minded if he wasn't so pushy." Hound agreed.

"Fanzone's a little twerp." Ironhide nodded as he passed the group by.

"I heard that!" Fanzone called. Wheeljack just chuckled. "Yeah, real hilarious." Fanzone muttered. "Alright earpieces, we have to finish the report."

"I'm a genius, on Cybertron the femmes would rate me about an eight, I turn into a sports car, end of story." Wheeljack said as he stood up.

"This is why I hate machines." Fanzone grumbled.

* * *

 _Oh gee! Wheeljack is back. I knew he'd be back, well of course I did, I'm the author. For all those who think it's ridiculous that Wheeljack survived the events of chapter one, all I can say is please write your own fan fiction where he doesn't and I'll write my fic where he does._


	6. Command Recognized

**Author's note:** After two chapters of nothing but Autobots, let's check in of our friends the Decepticons, featuring a character who's been around since chapter one but is just becoming an actual character now.

* * *

Chapter 6: Command Recognized

"It wasn't easy... but I'd say our next ally against the Autobots is ready." Shockave said to himself as he shut the chest compartment on the stolen piece of equipment from Blackrock and Sumdac. "Reflector!" He called.

"Yes Shockwave?" The three units said in unison.

"Request Megatron and the others, I have a presentation for them." Shockwave commanded.

"Very well Shockwave." The three nodded and left the room. Shockwave pulled a lever that stood up the robot while still confined to the table. Soon, Reflector returned with Megatron, Soundwave, and Scrapper.

"Do we really need another warrior?" Scrapper asked. "We already outgun the Autobots, we're bigger, we're stronger, what's the need?"

"Just two solar cycles ago the Autobots gained two new soldiers, it could be upwards of two hundred more any day now." Shockwave said. "Besides, the engineering was stolen from our leader, it was only right we claim the product."

"Is it ready Shockwave?" Megatron asked.

"Almost, I just require one thing my liege." Shockwave explained.

"And what is that?" Megatron asked.

"I request that I gain access to one of the protoforms so as to make him one of our own." Shockwave requested. "I am aware we do not have many, but I truly do believe this could be a valuable asset to the Decepticon cause."

"Request granted Shockwave, but this had better work." Megatron nodded slowly.

"Lord Megatron." Soundwave spoke up. "I do not believe this is a valuable use of one of our protoforms, we are down to a very low number-" Scrapper cut him off.

"Oh quiet." Scrapper scoffed. "The big boss gave the okay, no point in you yapping your vocal processor."

"I outrank you." Soundwave turned to him. "You have no business in ordering me around."

"Soundwave please." Megatron stopped him. "I see your point, but I do see potential in Shockwave's work. Please get a protoform from the sterilization chamber."

"As you wish, Lord Megatron." Soundwave nodded and left the room.

"Reflector, rally the others!" Megatron ordered.

"As you command, Lord Megatron." The units nodded.

"I ain't gonna argue that I still think this whole thing's a waste of time." Scrapper remarked. "But I just love when stereo-boy gets his." He chuckled.

"I may have disagreed with him Scrapper, but he will always by my second." Megatron said before grinning a little. "I could have him hollow you out for a guinea-pigatron cage with the snap of a servo."

"Eh... yes... Lord Megatron." Scrapper nodded nervously. Moments later, all the Decepticons except for Starscream had gathered in Shockwave's laboratory for the unveiling of the creation.

"My fellow Decepticons, I present to you, our newest ally, Blitzwing!" Shockwave announced as he placed the protoform in the constructed spark chamber where the pilot's seat once was. A surge of Energon went through the robot and the robot lit up, a red glow shining from the visor. Within Blitzwing's processor, so much was happening so fast.

"Vhere am I? Who am I? Vhat is this!?" The robot thought to himself looking around. "Last thing I remember... is nothing, let's see, Vhat do I know? I know... how to fight! I guess zat's my programming!" The Decepticons all stared at the robot who said nothing, suddenly Blitzwing jumped up and immediately began to attack, firing at the weakest targets, Refelctor.

"Aaah!" Spectro, Spyglass, and Viewfinder all said in others were taken aback by this outburst, not taken back enough to prevent them from defending themselves however, Scrapper and Blackarachnia began to fire at the robot.

"Looks like I'm outnumbered." Blitzwing thought to himself. "Best zink of somezing." He looked up and saw loose rock from the roof of the cave, he armed his blaster and fired up, a portion of the roof to cave in on the Decepticons. In mere second Megatron blasted his way out of the rubble. Blitzwing aimed his blaster at the larger mech and shuddered and twitched some, ready to fire.

"Bravo, I must say I am quite impressed." Megatron said as he approached him. "You can drop your weapon, I mean you no harm, if I did I would have already inflicted it." Intimidated by Megatron's size and massive arm mounted cannon Blitzwing dropped his weapon. "Can you speak?"

"... Yes. Yes I can." Blitzwing trembled, his voice rang with a dialect similar to a German accent.

"Excellent, Blitzwing, I am Megatron." Megatron said. "Your leader."

"Blitzving? Zhat is my name?" Blitzwing asked.

"You may pronounce it how you like, but yes." Megatron nodded. "These mechs are your teammates, we are the Decepticons. Conquerors of universes and harbingers of destruction." Megatron explained. "Your techniques will be a valuable asset against the Autobots."

"Ze Autobots?" Blitzwing asked.

"Wow, this mech _is_ clueless." Frenzy remarked.

"The Autobots are our mortal enemies, they took our homeworld away from us over a difference in beliefs, many of us were destroyed in the War for Cybertron millions of years ago, we are now launching an effort to take our home back." Shockwave explained.

"Zhat sounds terrible!" Blitzwing remarked.

"Precisely, so you understand why we've got to put forth our best effort to eliminate the Autobots." Megatron said slyly.

"Absolutely!" Blitzwing nodded.

"Good." Megatron grinned.

"Lord Megatron." Barricade spoke up. "We've picked up signs of Autobots nearby, what do you say we let our new buddy handle it?"

"I do like that idea quite so." Megatron grinned. "Skywarp! Thundercracker!" He hollered.

"Yes Megatron?" Thundercracker walked over.

"Blitzwing will accompany you to the Autobot sighting, I have a feeling the Autobots will be in for quite a surprise when they meet him." Megatron laughed.

"Let's go new guy." Skywarp nodded at Blitzwing. As the three exited the base, they passed a cage containing the Decepticon Starscream, Starscream noticed the new Decepticon and whispered to him when Skywarp and Thundercracker were ahead of him.

"Psst! Hey you!" Starscream whispered. Blitzwing turned to face the Decepticon, he looked worse for ware, dents and scratches covered his body and one of his optics wasn't glowing like the other was.

"Who are you?" Blitzwing asked.

"I am Starscream, I am a friend of yours." The Decepticon said weakly.

"Are you? I do not believe ve have met." Blitzwing said curiously.

"We are both Decepticons no? Fighting for the same cause?" Starscream asked.

"Vell, yes." Blitzwing nodded. "Vhat are you doing in a cage?"

"I was put in here for crimes I did not commit." Starscream lied. "All I ask is that you release me."

"How do I know zat you are telling ze truth?" Blitzwing asked.

"Do you not see my markings? I am a trine leader." Starscream explained. "Do you not think I would be as high in the Decepticon ranks as that if I were not trustworthy?" He asked.

"Zat is a good point..." Blitzwing admitted. "Okay, I vill release you, how do I do it?"

"There is an optic sensor on that wall, simply let it scan your optics and the door will unlock." Starscream explained.

"Alright." Blitzwing nodded as he approached the scanner and activated it. The scanner picked up the Decepticon energy signature and with that the energy bars disappeared. Starscream grinned as he could finally leave the cell he had been contained in for years.

"I will not forget this." Starscream grinned as he held back gleeful laughter and ran to a secondary exit of the base.

"You are quite velcome!" Blitzwing hollered.

"Blitzwing, come on!" Skywarp hollered from outside.

"Coming!" Blitzwing ran to the two Seekers.

"Alright, so, you know how to transform don't you?" Thundercracker asked him.

"Of course!" Blitzwing nodded. "Vell, possibly, vhat exactly is transforming?"

"It's like he was onlined today or something." Skywarp remarked.

"He was, you floppy disk processor." Thundercracker groaned. "Alright, so, it's just something you tell yourself to do, it isn't any different from talking or activating your weapons." He said as he demonstrated by transforming. "See? Easy!"

"Yeah!" Skywarp then transformed and began to fly about.

"Okay..." Blitzwing thought, no matter how he tried, and he did try, he just couldn't transform! He jumped, he strained, he even tried to shift his parts manually, nothing worked.

"He does have an alt mode, we've seen it!" Skywarp remarked.

"He has two actually." Thundercracker nodded. "When that fleshy was piloting him."

"Wait, you don't think..." Skywarp remarked. Thundercracker grinned and nodded a little.

"Eagle." Thundercracker simply said.

 _"COMMAND RECOGNIZED, NOW TRANSFORMING."_ A speaker inside Blitzwing said as he involuntarily transformed.

"Ack! Vhat has happened!?" Blitzwing remarked.

"You were built by humans." Skywarp explained. "You were voice activated, there are certain commands that make you transform."

 _"COMMAND RECOGNIZED, NOW TRANSFORMING."_ The inner computer said as the jet shifted back into robot mode, sending Blitzwing falling from the sky.

"Opps." Skywarp remarked.

"Eagle! Eagle!" Blitzwing hollered.

 _"COMMAND RECOGNIZED, NOW TRANSFORMING."_ The computer said as he went back to fighter jet mode and flew up to Skywarp and Thundercracker.

"Let's try and avoid any more things like that." Thundercracker said flatly. "Let's go!" He said as he led the jets off to the Autobots. Meanwhile, Starscream watched from a hidden position.

"Interesting, he's big, gulible, and can't even control his transformations." Starscream remarked. "And to think, my T-cog is being used to power that overgrown sparkling. Perhaps the big dummy could be used to my advantage, after all he already thinks I am innocent." He grinned. "But enough of that now Starscream, you have to get out of here before someone notices you're gone." He said as he ran off into the forest. Meanwhile on one of the twisting highways of the city, Ironhide, Wheeljack, and Hound were helping the construction crew in repairing a bridge, not from a Decepticon attack, but the result of Sideswipe and Sunstreaker having a little too much high grade one night.

"Remind me why _they_ aren't doing their community service and _we_ are?" Ironhide asked as he held up a steel beam for welding.

"Because Optimus and Prowl are making them serve another punishment." Wheeljack chuckled. "One I wouldn't wish on Megatron himself."

"Monitor duty isn't all bad." Hound said.

"Yeah, but being confined to the monitor room for twenty decacycles?" Wheeljack asked.

"Time would stand still..." Hound remarked.

"My point exactly." Wheeljack nodded. Overhead, the three Decepticons flew, locking their sensors on the Autobots.

"Lookit that, three Autobots, three of us!" Skywarp remarked.

"And I have a feeling we _still_ outnumber them!" Thundercracker laughed. "Transform!" He hollered, Skywarp and Thundercracker transformed and after another blaring announcement from Blitzwing's computer he did the same.

"You might wanna ask Shockwave if you can get that taken out." Skywarp said to Blitzwing.

"You zhink so? You don't zhink I haven't already zhought of zhat?" Blitzwing growled.

"No need to get feisty." Skywarp crossed his arms.

"Would both of you shut up?" Thundercracker groaned. "Attack!" He ordered as the three swooped down and fired.

"Decepticons!" Ironhide hollered. "Battle positions!"

"I've been waiting to test this baby out!" Wheeljack grinned as a shoulder cannon came out and aimed at the Decepticons, firing up at them.

"Good shot, Autobot." Blitzwing remarked as the missile missed him be a few feet. "But not good enough!" He said firing down as his tank turret became a shoulder cannon. He fired down, striking ground at Wheeljack's feet, sending him flying back against a bridge support.

"Good shot rookie!" Skywarp remarked.

"I _am_ a war machine after all." Blitzwing said coolly as he landed. "Alright Autobots, who vants to be offlined first?"

"Who is that!?" Hound asked Ironhide.

"Pretty sure it's that thing ol' Sumdac was building, apparently it or something that looks a lot like it is a Decepticon now." Ironhide remarked.

"Zhe name is Blitzving Autobot, and zhat vill be zhe last name you hear before I pound you into sheet metal!" Blitzwing snarled as he began to charge at the Autobots.

"We'll see about that, October-Fest." Ironhide remarked as large Gatling guns came from his forearms and he began to fire off at the Decepticon. "Hound! Wheeljack! Handle the Seekers, I'll take on the rookie!"

"I may be mere solar cycles old, but I can assure you I am no rookie." Blitzwing leaped from the ground and landed behind Ironhide, kicking him down from behind.

"Turbo roddin' young punk!" Ironhide growled jumping back to his feet. "I'll straighten you out yet!" He said as he began to lay heavy punches into Blitzwing, with one hard hit nailing him right into his faceplate and knocking his head directly into a highway support. An electrical surge went through Blitzwing and he jerked to life. After the hard blows to his head, Blitzwing's inner computer started to go on the fritz.

 _"COMMAND RECOGNIZED, NOW TRANSFORMING."_ The computer said without a command even uttered and Blitzwing started to rapidly shift modes between tank, jet, and robot. The computer buzzing and spouting the acknowledgement of a command that wasn't even happening. Ironhide stood and watched in amazement.

"I've broken Decepticons before, but I've never broken 'em like this." Ironhide remarked.

"Yeah! You busted him up real good, now if you could lend a servo that'd be great!" Wheeljack hollered at him as he fought Skywarp, who frequently used his ability to teleport to gain the upper hand on the Autobot engineer.

"Oh... Yeah, right." Ironhide said realizing Blitzwing was no longer an actual threat went to help Wheeljack with Skywarp, as Hound fought Thundercracker, Thundercracker looked over at the new Decepticon.

"Hey, Skywarp!" He called. "Looks like the new mechs not doin' too good."

"So? Why should we care?" Skywarp asked.

"Do you really wanna deal with Megatron _and_ Shockwave when they find out Shockwave's new toy is broken?" Thundercraker asked.

"Ugh." Skywarp sighed. He then used his teleportation ability to teleport directly behind Blitzwing and use his null rays mounted on his arms to lock the Decepticon into a temporary stasis.

"Retreat... for now." Thundercracker growled, the two Seekers flew up with Skywarp holding on to Blitzwing, who was freakishly one third locked in robot form, one third jet form, and one third tank form. From the ground, the three Autobots stood and looked at the Decepticons fly off.

"That was... the weirdest Decepticon encounter I've ever seen..." Wheeljack remarked.

"Ain't that the truth." Ironhide remarked.

"I wouldn't know from any Cybertronian experience, but... that was weird." Hound nodded. Back at the Decepticon headquarters though, they didn't look at the encounter as weird...

" _WHAT!?_ " Skywarp and Thundercracker heard Megatron holler almost as soon as they walked in the base.

"Oh slag..." Skywarp sighed.

"What do you mean Starscream has escaped!?" Megatron yelled at Barricade.

"I... I don't know Lord Megatron! I had just walked in the room and the cell had been deactivated! Starscream was nowhere to be found!" Barricade explained, fearing the wrath of his leader.

"It seems the control panel was activated." Soundwave remarked. "However, was not one of the original Nemisis crew." He scanned the data.

"Wait a sec..." Skywarp said, remembering Blitzwing falling behind. He then shoved Blitzwing's conveniently still out head up against the scanner. "How's that compare to the history on the scanner?" He asked Soundwave.

"Direct match." Soundwave nodded.

"Starscream must have manipulated Blitzwing knowing the mech wouldn't be any the wiser!" Megatron growled before suddenly looking at the state Blitzwing was in. "On the subject of Blitzwing... what happened?"

"Blow to the head made him all haywire." Thundercraker explained.

"Send him to Shockwave, I have more important things to worry about." Megatron dismissed the Seekers as he went out to the exit of the cave and overlooked the forest beneath them. "He couldn't have gotten far, he lost his ability to fly when his T-Cog was removed.

"Not to mention you busted his wings." Barricade reminded the towering gray Decepticon.

"Yet however, I do have a feeling that like an infestation of Scraplets, we have not seen the last of Starscream." Megatron said. Meanwhile, back at the Autobot headquarters Hound, Ironhide, and Wheeljack described their encounter.

"It was the weirdest thing, they just made a new Decepticon out of that mech suit Sumdac built!" Hound said.

"A new Decepticon that didn't have all the kinks figured out." Ironhide remarked.

"Odd, however if the Decpeticons now have the ability to produce more out of Earth machines this could be alarming." Prowl stated.

"Especially if they're able to perfect the technology." Ratchet nodded.

"As if we weren't already out gunned already." Optimus remarked. Out of the group of Autobots he had with him, only he, Ironhide, Skyfire, Ratchet, and Wheeljack actually saw the War for Cybertron, where all the Decepticons they were up against except of course for this new edition were seasoned warriors.

"What's the big deal?" Bumblebee asked. "This guy was a fluke! They're probably giving up on making more."

"Decepticons don't give up that easily kid." Wheeljack said. "We all thought the end of the war was the last we'd see them."

"Those were the days." Ratchet sighed.

"Who ordered the nostalgia sandwich?" The little girl Sari whispered to Bumblebee who snickered, the two had recently formed a sort of friendship, much to the annoyance of almost everyone else.

"Whatever the Decepticons make of the situation, they do have a new soldier on their side, a soldier that has the potential to be twice as dangerous considering his two alternate modes." Optimus said.

"Why don't we just upgrade ourselves to have that ability too?" Sideswipe asked.

"Tech isn't there genius." Sunstreaker scoffed. "Besides, it's not right to have more than one alternate mode, it's... it's unnatural, like a head that becomes a smaller robot or a Cybertronian hiding in some organic shell!"

"Those are the most ridiculous ideas I've ever heard." Mirage remarked.

"Little bots turning into heads, what'll you young bots think of next?" Wheeljack remarked. Meanwhile, just outside the base, an ex Decepticons sulked through the streets.

"If Megatron finds me he'll offline me for sure, I don't even have an alt mode!" Starscream whined. "What am I ever going to do?" He then stopped and noticed the abandoned factory. "Hmm, perhaps I could use this dump as a place to hide out. Worst that could happen is one or two of those stupid little Autobots find me." He then walked into the entrance of the base. Almost immediately an Autobot noticed him.

"Starscream?" Jazz remarked, this sudden noise made Starscream jump up in shock before noticing the Autobot. He began to back away, his guns aimed at the Autobot.

"Stay back Autobot!" He growled. "I've had a _really_ bad chunk of a centicycle, I'll blast you into spare parts!"

"What's the commotion in here?" An Autobot asked walking in, Starscream didn't see the Autobot as he backed directly into him. Starscream turned around and looked up at the Autobot who was almost the same height as Megatron himself.

"Skyfire?" Starscream remarked. Starscream had known Skyfire since before the War for Cybertron, they were friends even, but their different choice in allegiance separated them. Starscream looked around, the room soon began crawling with Autobots! Starscream could count twelve Autobots surrounding him, ready to be confrontational if necessary.

"Oh slag..." Starscream gulped.


	7. Autobot Starscream

**Author's note:** Looks like Starscream has found himself in a real pickle, not to mention the Blitzwing fiasco, not to mention the fact that Blackarachnia didn't appear at all in the last chapter! Well, this chapter will put all those worries to rest.

* * *

Chapter 7: Autobot Starscream

"Decepticon Seeker Trine leader and left servo to Megatron himself." Ironhide remarked as he paced back and forth in the room in the warehouse that had quickly been made up into an interrogation room. "And what could possibly bring you to just wander aimlessly into Autobot headquarters, especially in your current state." He remarked at the beaten, battered, and broken state Starscream was in. "In fact, the only reason I didn't offline you on sight was because I took pity on you, a son of a glitch like you must have been through a whole lot." Starscream looked at the Autobot angrily from where he was bound.

"I'm no interrogation expert, but I'm pretty sure when you interrogate someone, it's them that has to talk, not you." Starscream said flatly.

"Now who said this was an interrogation?" Hound asked, the two Autobots were attempting what Spike had described to them as a good-cop/bad-cop setup.

"I'm bound to the wall and I could hear Optimus Prime order you to interrogate me. To name a few." Starscream sighed.

"Oh, well, you've got a point there." Hound nodded.

"Tell us everythin' you know about Megatron's operation an' I'll blast your spark into oblivion!" Ironhide growled, pressing his cannon right up against Starscream's spark chamber, which had been exposed after one of the many occasions since his return that Megatron had beaten the slag out of him.

"Uh, Ironhide, I think it's _or_ I'll blast your spark chamber into oblivion." Hound spoke up.

"That's what I said ain't it?" Ironhide asked.

"No." Hound and Starscream both shook their heads.

"Listen, I'll tell you everything, I'm already as good as dead if Megatron sees me again anyway." Starscream said. "All I ask is that you at the very least replace my T-cog."

"Absolutely." Hound nodded.

"Absolutely not!" Ironhide crossed his arms. Hound stopped and looked at the Autobot soldier.

"C'mon Ironhide, the mech's T-cog is gone, he can't even call himself a Transformer, he's just a... well he's a..." Hound thought.

"Please!" Starscream begged. "I'll do anything! I'll... I'll even... join you!" Hound and Ironhide stopped and looked at the Decepticon with curiosity.

"Join us?" Hound asked.

" _Right_." Ironhide said skeptically.

"No! I mean it! I'm fed up with Megatron! Almost as much as he himself is fed up with me! Like I said if he sees me again I'm as good as dead, why not join a team that can protect me!" Starscream begged.

"We Autobot's aren't about protecting side swapping refugees." Ironhide said.

"But hold on Ironhide." Hound said. "If Starscream is really serious, he could be a valuable ally considering his knowledge on the Decepticons."

"The green Autobot is definitely my ticket out of here, he's a lot dumber than he looks." Starscream thought to himself. "The red one could prove to be trouble. I remember him from the War for Cybertron."

"So, Starscream, are you _really_ serious about becoming an Autobot?" Ironhide asked.

"Absolutely," Starscream lied. "with my knowledge regarding Megatron and the others, it would be a mistake _not_ to give me a chance."

"Send in Optimus and Prowl." Ironhide nodded to Hound. Moments later Hound returned with Optimus Prime and Prowl. Prowl had his blaster armed in case the Decepticon warrior tried anything, despite the fact that in his state it would be a foolish idea to. He was one blow away from having to be on spark support, and two bad blows from joining the well of Allsparks.

"Hound, you're clearly full of slag, there is no way Starscream of all Decepticons would want to join the Autobots. He has an offline count that's more than Soundwave's and Straxus' combined!" Prowl remarked.

"I see my reputation precedes me." Starscream grinned slyly at the Autobot. "I have seen the error in my ways, I now realize the Autobot ideology is the way! That freedom truly _is_ the right of... um..."

"All sentient beings?" Hound finished his sentence.

"Precisely!" Starscream nodded. "I want to help you! Wage battle against the evil forces of the Decepticons and such!"

"You can't really believe this load of slag, can you Prime?" Ironhide asked his leader.

"I don't know Ironhide, Starscream never has been overly fond of Megatron, perhaps he truly is a changed mech." Optimus said.

"Once a Decepticon, always a Decepticon. That's what I say." Ironhide crossed his arms. "I recall the Decepticons once had a medic who joined the Autobots when it looked like they were winning, what did he do once the tide began to turn to favor the Decepticons? He killed half the Autobots at his station and rejoined the Decepticons."

"Did he try and change when we won the war?" Prowl asked.

"Sure did. We wouldn't let him in." Ironhide nodded.

"What a self serving blastard." Prowl remarked.

"Now hold on a second, just because one Decpeticon did that doesn't mean another will too!" Hound spoke up. "Maybe he is serious."

"Hound has a point you two." Optimus nodded. "Starscream, we will repair you and immediately start training you as an Autobot, however you will be under strict supervision."

"Optimus, with all due respect I think you're making a horrific mistake." Prowl said.

"We should not be quick to assume Starscream has an ulterior motive in joining us. The Autobots are not about assuming the worst in others, especially not other Cybertronians." Optimus said. "Whether Autobot or Decepticon, we all have a spark."

"Oh thank you Optimus Prime!" Starscream groveled. "I will continue to serve the Autobot cause with honor and pride." Meanwhile in his head he couldn't believe his luck, not only was he about to get a new T-cog but he would be getting completely repaired! All thanks to one naive green Autobot. Reluctantly, Ironhide and Prowl removed the energy binds and aided the Seeker to Ratchet's medibay.

"You want me to do WHAT!?" Ratchet stammered when Optimus gave him his orders.

"That's ludicrous Prime!" Wheeljack remarked. "Eh, no offense."

"Starscream has expressed a desire to join us. I see it only fit we give him a chance, and it all starts with repairing him." Optimus explained. Ratchet tried to come up with something, something to sway Optimus to seeing this was clearly a bad idea. Not being able to think of anything he sighed.

"As you wish Optimus." He said as he began to gather tools to repair Starscream. "I never thought I'd see the day where I fix a Decepticon, Starscream of all mechs." He muttered as he began to work.

"No kiddin'." Wheeljack nodded. "Need a servo?" He asked.

"As if I need more Autobots touching me." Starscream thought to himself.

"Go ahead." Ratchet nodded. Before he knew it, the Autobot engineer took out a saw and sawed off his only still attached wing.

"What in the pits of Kaon are you doing!?" Starscream hollered.

"I've been working on an invention, it's meant for limbs or any body attachment meant to have a symmetrical partner, the machine scans the object, repairs it, then produces an identical copy for the other side." Wheeljack explained. "I'm more than good looks, I'm also pretty damn brilliant."

"Pretty damn something, I don't know if brilliant is the right word." Ratchet chuckled making a jab at his friend.

"You got me there." Wheeljack chuckled. "However, once you realize that they don't make spare parts for your ancient model anymore you'll love this machine."

"I could always do what you do." Ratchet replied. "The only part of you that's still part of your original mold is your legs."

"Not even, I built new mods for my stabilizers, shock absorbers. I could fall a hundred feet and land like I jumped off a chair." Wheeljack chuckled.

"I am going to rip my own spark out if I have to listen to these two any longer." Starscream muttered to himself. He decided to put himself into a stasis so he could go without hearing those two talk. When he awoke, he felt different, he felt... better.

"He's coming to." Ratchet remarked looking down on him. "Good morning." He chuckled a little as the Decepticon opened his optic sensors and sat up.

"How're you feeling?" Wheeljack asked.

"I feel... good." Starscream nodded before looking down, he had been completely repaired to his former state, his once dented and scratched beyond recognizable body was gleaming and shining with his original red, white, and blue color scheme. There was just one thing different. "Where are my blasters?" He asked.

"Consider that part of your parole." Ratchet said. "No weapons until we can be sure you won't try anything."

"Vector Sigma..." Starscream swore in his head.

"I must say though," Wheeljack remarked. "You look better with Autobot symbols than I thought you would." He flashed Starscream a mirror, on his wings where his Decepticon logos once were there were big red Autobot symbols.

"Primus no..." Starscream thought to himself. "My my yes!" He nodded, hiding his disgust. "Part of me feels like they always should have been there." Luckily for him though his optics were still red, which was just enough to keep him from vomiting up Energon.

"I see you noticed your optics, don't worry, new ones will be ready soon! Do you want two optic sensors or a visor?" Wheeljack asked.

"That... won't be necessary." Starscream managed to say. "I feel like I should at least keep these, as... as a reminder of where I came from."

"Suit yourself." Wheeljack shrugged. "Gotta say, you'd look good with a visor."

"I said I'm fine." Starscream said standing up. Aside from the disgusting Autobot symbols on his wings he looked exactly like he did before, right down to his Cybertronian alternate mode, if he was going into hiding that would have to change. But first he had to figure out how to ditch the Autobots and get his blasters back. "Look, I'm going to take a walk around the base, get familiarized with it." He said getting up to leave.

"Go right ahead." Ratchet said. Wheeljack and Ratchet watched him leave.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Wheeljack asked.

"We have his blasters, I'm not worried." Ratchet nodded. As Starscream walked around the base he got looks from any Autobot who walked by him, every look angered him a little more. "I swear, if I had my blasters all of you stupid little Autobots would be nothing but spare parts and stains on the wall." He thought to himself. During his walk, one Autobot stopped him. It was Skyfire.

"Hey you." Skyfire said, he sounded angry in a way.

"Skyfire! Good to see you once again old friend." Starscream grinned, despite the fact part of him wanted to blow the Autobot to oblivion, there was another part of him who was genuinely happy to see the mech who was once his best friend.

"I wish I could say the same." The tall scientist crossed his arms. He was much taller than Starscream, yet would never willingly harm the smallest Insecticon. "Starscream, I don't believe you." He said bluntly.

"What do you mean?" Starscream asked.

"Oh, drop the act Starscream!" Skyfire rolled his optics. "Nobody just decides to change sides after millions of years of being on one side."

"Well, I have always been a little different." Starscream grinned.

"How ironic considering half of the Decpeticon fleet was cast from your mold." Skyfire remarked.

"Ha, clever." Starscream smirked. "You always were known for your sense of humor."

"And you always were known for being a pathological liar." Skyfire remarked. "And a cheat, and a suck up, and an egomaniac, and a coward."

"I get it." Starscream said dryly. "But I've changed, Skyfire! I've seen the error in my ways!"

"No, you haven't." Skyfire shook his head. "If you did, you wouldn't have pulled your blasters on Jazz when you first walked in."

"That was self defense!" Starscream lied.

"Right." Skyfire said sarcastically. "Just, when you do ultimately stab the few Autobots who trust you in the back, all I ask is that you don't offline them, they've never done anything wrong, most of them weren't even in the War for Cybertron. Just shoot me down like you did four million years ago." He said as he turned and walked away. Starscream sighed, he knew that his old friendship with Skyfire was beyond repair and had been for millions of years. Even then, he still found a way to make Starscream feel guilty for his actions.

"Hey Starscream!" A voice called for him, Starscream turned around to see Hound waving at him.

"Oh good, the gullible green one." Starscream said to himself, at least someone was going to be friendly to him.

"Me an' some of the others are gonna crack open a cube of high grade, you want in?" Hound asked. Starscream thought about it for a moment, back on Cybertron, when the Decpeticons would drink Starscream always drank alone, and now an Autobot of all things was offering him a drink?

"Sure." Starscream finally nodded. "I don't see the harm." Just a couple nanoklicks later, he found himself sitting in the middle of a circle of Autobots, even Prowl, the tightest wound of them was there.

"Did... did... -hic-... Did you all know I've got brothers?" The Autobot Prowl asked in a drunken state. "Two of 'em. Hate 'em both."

"Really?" Sunstreaker asked.

"Yep! One... he's a no good gambler, he'll swindle you out of the house and home. The other..." He stopped and thought. "I dunno what he does but I know he's a jerk!" He grumbled.

"For once you're speaking a language I understand." Starscream remarked. "I've got two brothers who hate my guts."

"Just the two brothers?" Sunstreaker quipped, making the others laugh.

"Okay, laugh it up." Starscream sneered. "But seriously, one of them has always hated me. The other, we used to get along, but after I tried to kill Megatron seventy five stellar cycles ago, I guess he had enough."

"Those two are your brothers?" Hound asked.

"Skywarp and Thundercracker?" Starscream asked. "Yep, cast from the same mold and forged from the same creator."

"Never knew." Hound remarked. "Nice symbols by the way." He pointed.

"I can just imagine what they'd say if they saw me with these." Starscream remarked. He was just sober enough to keep himself from spilling his true feelings on them, or the situation as a whole.

"I can just imagine what _you_ must have said when you saw them!" Sunstreaker laughed.

"Now this Autobot gets it." Starscream thought to himself.

"So tell me Screamer." Prowl said, this informal way of speaking was rare for him, must be the high grade. "Why'd you hate Megatron so much?" He asked. "You were his left servo mech!"

"Why did I hate Megatron?" Starscream asked. "A better question would be why didn't I hate Megatron!" He laughed. "He was egotistical, he was incompetent!"

"Well when you say it like that it's hard to believe you didn't get along!" Prowl laughed.

"Oh shut up." Starscream rolled his optics and grinned, in a way that said he did find the remark amusing, but that was just the high grade, had he been completely sober he would already have the Autobot pinned against the wall. As they went on, Starscream actually was enjoying himself, he never thought that he would actually enjoy the company of Autobots. It almost made him feel bad for what he was going to do the moment he got his blasters back. Almost... Meanwhile at Decepticon headquarters Shockwave was hard at work trying to repair Blitzwing and stabilize his processor.

"Blackarachnia, pull the switch, I need to see if this works." Shockwave said. Blackarachnia nodded and pulled the switch, bringing Blitzwing out of the stasis he had been put in. A surge of electricity blew through the robot and he jerked to life. The robot stood up and looked around.

"Shockwave? Blackarachnia? Vhat happened?" Blitzwing asked, he looked identical to before, except for his head it was rebuilt to appear more Cybertronian. One optic was a normal Cybertronian optic sensor, the other looks as if he was wearing a monocle

"A blow to the processor caused you to malfunction." Shockwave explained. "However I believe I've figured away to fix it. See, the three modes you had fell under completely different programming, there was no way to completely repair your mental state, or so I thought." Shockwave said.

"Vhat do you mean?" Blitzwing asked.

"I put your different coding into alter personalities to balance it out, no more one processor trying to handle three sets of programming." Shockwave explained. "Think about tuning into a tank." He said.

"Okay..." Blitzwing nodded, the moment he did, his head began to spin within his helmet and a new face emerged with a big red visor and a bulky chin. "I vill crush all who stand in my way!" He growled angrily.

"Hothead." Blackarachnia remarked.

"Now, a jet." Shockwave ordered. His face then spun again to reveal his face before thinking of his tank mode.

"I feel... dizzy." He remarked.

"Each personality is linked to a mode, well, mostly." Shockwave explained.

"Vhat do you mean, mostly?" Blitzwing asked.

"Well, there was extra code you couldn't function without, which had to be linked to another personality, but that I couldn't alter." Shockwave explained. "I call it the wildcard personality." Suddenly his face shifted again at random and revealed the third face, completely black with no definition and glowing red eyes and mouth, it looked like a Jack o' lantern carved into a robot.

"Ooh! Hahahahaha! Allo mister cyclops and spider lady!" The wildcard personality of Blitzwing said. "Ooh! Vhat is zhis!?" He went around looking at tools and screens in Shockwave's laboratory.

"The wildcard personality comes and goes in random spurts, there was nothing I could do about that. Eventually though, he should be able to control it to an extent." Shockwave explained to Blackarachnia. Just as he finished saying that the face shift back to normal, leaving Blitzwing out of breath and leaning against the shelf.

"Vhat happened?" He asked.

"Hm, interesting, it appears he does not remember anything he does as his wildcard personality." Shockwave remarked.

"Yeah. _real_ interesting." Blackarachnia rolled her optics. "I'm outta here." She said turning to leave.

"Vell, zhank you very much Shockwave, I do appreciate your efforts." Blitzwing nodded as he headed out of the laboratory, unknowing that the others were not very happy with him.

"Well well, if it isn't the Decepticon who let the traitor free." Scrapper said angrily leaning up against the wall.

"What could you possibly have been thinking?" Thundercracker nodded.

"Oh, Starscream?" Blitzwing asked.

"Yes Starscream!" Scrapper hollered. "The treacherous piece of slag who tried to destroy Megatron!"

"That's enough Scrapper." Megatron spoke up. "Blitzwing was not aware of his crimes, it is not fair to reprimand him for it. That being said it will not happen again, if it does, I'll have your head." He glared at Blitzwing, suddenly though Blitzwing's face shifted to the wildcard expression.

"Vhich one!? Muwahahahahaha!" He began to laugh and run around headquarters, confusing all around.

"What's going on?" Skywarp asked.

"Ask Shockwave." Blackarachnia scoffed. As Blitzwing pranced around his face shifted again mid air back to normal, causing Blitzwing to fall flat on his face.

"Vhat happened?" He asked weakly standing up.

"This should prove to be interesting." Megatron remarked. Days passed and Starscream waited every painful moment of it, tolerating parole, going every snide remark without being able to blast the head off of every Autobot there. He was less then a mile away from Optimus Prime for the most time he'd ever spent, and he could do nothing about it! Until one day...

"Optimus, we're picking up Decepticon activity north of the city." Prowl said looking at Teletraan's screen.

"Autobots," Optimus called. "before we roll out I want our newest member of the team, Starscream, to step forward." Starscream wasn't expecting this, he wasn't sure what to do. Somewhat reluctantly the Seeker stepped forward. "Starscream, when you first claimed you wanted to join us I was skeptical to say the least, but I gave you a chance. Now I am proud to say that it was the right decision. Today you join us in battle, and you can't do that without these." Optimus said as he held out Starscream's two arm mounted blasters. Starscream took the blasters and attached them to their proper position on his arms.

"Thank you Optimus Prime." Starscream said. "Over the past few solar cycles, you all have been so welcoming of me. It has been a true honor, so much that..." He grinned devilishly. "So much that this almost makes me feel guilty." He grinned as he fired up at the ceiling, causing the roof to tremble and cave in on the Autobots. "So long, Autobots." He transformed into his tetrajet mode and flew off. When the Autobots cleared the rubble off of themselves, many were ready to go after the manipulative Decepticon.

"That no good glitch head! When I get my servos on him I'll tear him limb from limb!" Ironhide growled.

"I'd just like to point it out that through it all, Ironhide and I were right about him." Prowl crossed his arms.

"Should we pursue him Prime?" Jazz asked.

"Eh, that won't be necessary." Wheeljack chuckled. "When we were fixing it up I installed a tracking beacon onto him, not only can we pick it up, but so can Megatron, lets let him do the dirty work for us." The rest of the Autobots laughed at whatever horrible things awaited the Seeker once Megatron got a hold of him.

"It's a shame." Hound remarked. "Call me silly but for a moment I had really thought he had changed."

"Starscream doesn't change." Skyfire told the green SUV Autobot. "But, he can surprise you." He remarked at the fact that even though he knew Starscream was lying all along that he still respected Skyfire's wishes. That night, when the other eleven Autobtos were recharging Skyfire went to Teletraan One to pick up Starscream on the scanner. Hoping that the coordinates given were accurate Skyfire transformed and flew off. In the middle of the Mojave Desert was where Skyfire found him, sitting alone. Skyfire transformed and approached the Seeker.

"What do you want?" Starscream asked. "Here to turn me in?"

"No." Skyfire shook his head. "I just wanted to say thank you."

"Thank me?" Starscream asked. "For what?"

"For respecting what I asked of you. I knew you weren't serious about joining us and just saw it as a way for a free T-cog. But I didn't know you still had at least a little integrity left in you." Skyfire explained.

"Oh. Well, don't think anything of it." Starscream said. "I still hate all of you."

"Likewise." Skyfire nodded. "But still, also I should warn you, Wheeljack put a tracking signal in you, you might want to get rid of that before Megatron finds you."

"Thanks for the tip." Starscream nodded.

"Don't think anything of it." Skyfire repeated the words of the Seeker and flew back to base. Starscream sat in wonder if there was a part of Skyfire who still saw him as a friend, not that there was any part of Starscream that did or anything. But, after all it's not like Skyfire came out here to take him prisoner, just... to talk. Starscream didn't quite understand, if it were him he would have sought out the traitor to turn him in to whoever wanted to fry the traitor's spark more for a reward. But Skyfire was not Starscream, and in a way, Starscream was thankful for that.


	8. Rise of Circuit Breaker

**Author's note:** In lieu of me trying to make this as fanwank a story for Transformers fans as possible, this chapter introduces a character that has faded into obscurity.

* * *

Chapter 8: Rise of Circuit Breaker

"Good morning Josie." Garrison Blackrock smiled at his assistant as he sat down at his desk in the morning and sipped at his coffee. "Any mail?"

"Yes, you have a voicemail from Porter C. Powell, I screened Henry Masterson's resume and blocked his... 42nd Email account." Blackrock's assistant, Josie Beller said to her boss.

"Voicemail, Email, whatever happened to the old pen-and-paper letter?" Blackrock asked rhetorically before chuckling. "Oh wait, that's right, a little thing called technology came along."

"Speaking of technology coming along, BRK is up since you announced siding with the Autobots." Josie read.

"And PWL?" Blackrock asked.

"Down. Why do you think I told you about the voicemail?" She asked.

"Good point." Blackrock nodded, the fact that his competitor's stocks were down made him happily. "Y'know, I think those Autobots are going to be a very valuable asset to my bank account."

"Just be careful." She warned. "Part of me worries about Blackrock Enterprises being tied to a side of a war between giant robots, it could make some pretty big enemies. The other side of that war for instance."

"Psshah, Josie, we'll be fine, the big red one already made it clear that it's their goal while here to protect who?" He asked. Josie sighed and answered his question.

"Humanity." She replied.

"And, do we fall under that category?" Blckrock grinned.

"Some of us more than others." She said. "Just, be careful."

"Josie, when was I not careful?" Blackrock asked.

"You raised a lot of controversy when you showed up hungover to a charity telethon." Josie replied.

"Hungover would imply that I wasn't drunk anymore at the time." Blackrock grinned, Josie just sighed.

"You are impossible sometimes." She said as she went for the door of Blackrock's large, fancy office.

"I prefer to think of it as 'hard to understand', but I suppose that works." Blackrock chuckled, tossing a ball up and catching it as he looked out the window overlooking the city. "Be careful. Yeah, sure." He scoffed. "I'm the biggest name in America, President Faireborn isn't even on my level." That afternoon though, he would eat his words. A white and black highway patrol 2016 Dodge Charger sped down the highway pursuing two sleek motorbikes, one red and black, the other blue and purple.

"Pull over!" The police car hollered, this police car of course, was Prowl. The "driver" on the red bike looked back and flipped Prowl off.

"Eat my dust, Autobot!" The driver on the blue bike chuckled and sped up.

"I have a feeling I might know what I'm dealing with now." Prowl sighed. He transformed throwing himself up in the air and flipping to land in front of the two bikes. The two skidded to a stop in front of the Autobot and the "drivers", who had been projected holograms disappeared and the bikes transformed, the blue one becoming Rumble and the red becoming Frenzy.

"Whaddya gonna do Autobot?" Frenzy spat. "There's two of us, an' one of you."

"It would take another _three_ of you I'd say before I'd consider you a threat." Prowl smirked. Rumble grinned and opened a saddle bag on his hip and tossed up a camera, which split into three components and grew into three robots a little taller than Rumble and Frenzy. This was the Decepticon spy team Reflector.

"What was that about another three?" The Reflector units said in unison.

"A minispy team? I thought you were put out of commission a stellarcycle into the war." Prowl scoffed at the three nearly identical robots.

"The classics last." The one in the center, Viewfinder said while the two at his sides grinned.

"A couple cassetticons and a minispy team, this'll be a piece of oil cake." Prowl chuckled arming his blaster. "Bring it on." Rumble grinned and his arms shifted into large jackhammer like weapons and Frenzy armed one of the handguns mounted on his back, beginning to fire. Prowl grinned and dodged the laser fire, blasting down one of the Reflector units, he grabbed the downed Decepticon and swung him like a baseball bat, knocking down the other two. "As the humans say: strike one!" He chuckled.

"I think strike is a bad thing." Jazz chuckled as he transformed behind him. "Decent attempt at being funny though."

"I always assumed I had a sense of humor, stellarcycles of desk work might have numbed it." Prowl shrugged.

"You're no Treadsmoke, but you're alright." Jazz chuckled, referring to the Cybertronian stand up comedian.

"You Autobots talk too much." The Reflector units said in unison as they lept toward the two Autobots as Frenzy and Rumble began punching at the two.

"What was that about us not bein' a threat?" Frenzy chuckled as he punched Prowl's face.

"One thing I hate more than a Decepticon." Prowl muttered. "A Decepticon with an attitude."

"An' for tiny Decepticons, they sure got lots of it." Jazz remarked before grabbing Rumble by the arm and tossing him off of him and off of the highway bridge they were fighting on. "Look out below!" He chuckled.

"Rumble!" Frenzy exclaimed. The Decepticons normally didn't care much for anyone, not even their own. But there were certain Decepticons that were different, Frenzy and Rumble for example. The two were close considering they were brothers and knew each other before the war and before they even were assigned to Soundwave. Frenzy lept from the bridge and maneuvered down street signs and poles to tend to his brother.

"You may have eliminated them, but you still have us to worry about." Reflector said as the three armed their blasters in unison.

"A minispy team? Dang, look what stumbled out of the Great War Museum." Jazz remarked.

/Are we really that old?/ Spectro said through the wave link shared between the three to the others.

/Apparently./ Spyglass replied.

/Who cares? It just means we have more experience than this rookie./ Viewfinder told the others. The three grinned and started to fire at Jazz.

"Yow!" Jazz remarked, dodging fire from Reflector. Prowl snuck up behind the trio and transformed, ramming the three Decepticons like bowling pins in his alt mode.

"Home run!" Prowl chuckled transforming back to robot mode. Jazz just shook his head and sighed.

"Sports analogies are not your thing." Jazz shook his head.

"I've only been on this planet for a decacycle." Prowl defended himself.

"Actually it's been almost a centicycle, you've been online for a decacycle." Jazz corrected him.

"Whatever." Prowl rolled his optics. Overhead, a purple helicopter and a black city police car approached.

"If you needed help, you could have radioed in." The black police car transformed into the Decepticon Barricade and the purple helicopter became Shockwave. "Not that I didn't already figure you would."

"Where's Rumble and Frenzy?" Shockwave asked Reflector.

"They split just a nanoclick ago." Reflector replied.

"Typical, little grunts run off when the goin' gets tough." Barricade scoffed.

"Never send Deployer minions to do a mech's job." Shockwave sighed.

"That's the truth." One of the Reflector units chuckled leaning on Barricade's leg, trying to fit in with the mechs Megatron considered soldiers.

"Beat it grunt." Barricade kicked off the minispy.

"Your services are no longer required, we'll handle things from here." Shockwave told the minispy team.

"Dumb cyclops." One of the units muttered as the three mechs walked away.

"Since I was so polite I decided to let you Deceptiscum talk that out before I continued firing." Prowl spoke up. "I'll extend no such kindness anymore." He said as he started to fire at the two Decepticons.

"Like all Autobots, your foolish sympathy will be your downfall." Shockwave said as he fired his large arm cannon at Prowl.

"Sympathy." Prowl scoffed. "I don't believe in it when it comes to Decepticons."

"Call it what you like, the endeavor is still foolish." Shockwave replied. As the Autobots and Decpeticons fought, Blackrock watched the battle from his office, chuckling as to him it was like nothing more than watching a movie.

"Hey Josie get in here!" He called. "It's getting good!"

"I'll pass." Her voice called from outside his office.

"C'mon! The one you like is there, the purple one!" He called.

"Fine.'" She groaned. "I'll watch, but I won't like it." She said, sounding like anyone who's ever been forced to watch that 90's _Super Mario Bros._ movie. She stood at the window with her bots and watched the robots battle it out on the freeway. "Who's going to clean all that up? And are these battles coverable by insurance?" She asked.

"Who cares?" Blackrock spat. "It's so fun to watch!"

"Shouldn't you be concerned about the welfare of your niece at the very least? After all she and her friends hang around the Autobots every day." Josie said.

"They're in good hands." Blackrock replied. "Just stay loose huh?" Meanwhile during the battle Shockwave transformed to get the Autobots where they couldn't attack with advantage, the sky. The purple helicopter fired down a rain of bullets at the two Autobots. Prowl and Jazz took refuge behind a large truck, an oil tanker. Prowl realized the danger of this.

"Should we be hiding behind this? It could explode at any minute with him firing at it." He said. That gave Jazz an idea, Jazz jumped onto the the trailer of the truck.

"Prowl! Blast it!" He ordered.

"What?" Prowl stammered.

"Just do it!" He said, Prowl backed up and fired his gun at the tanker, one plasma bullet was enough to erupt the tanker, the blast sent Jazz flying up into the air, hoping the trajectory would be enough to get Shockwave. Jazz flipped through the air and collided just with the target he had hoped. "You're grounded Decepticon!" He said as he blasted half the blades right off Shockwave's helicopter form. This rocked Shockwave uneasily as the form began to fall, he fell rapidly to one side, Jazz lept from the crashing Decepticon and landed safely on the highway as the Decpeticon went down. As Shockwave went down, he got dangerously close to the city, Blackrock Tower in particular, he collided into the roof of the tower hard, scrambling the electricty and heavily damamging the building, the roof began to tremble and cave in right on top of Josie and Blackrock.

"Josie! Run!" Blackrock hollered as he took her by the wrist and began to run, in the overwhelmed state of shock that Josie was in, she was frozen with fear. A support beam from the ceiling came tumbling down, crashing down on top of her. "No!" Blackrock yelled as he quickly dialed 9-11.

* * *

Three days later

"Mr. Blackrock, we've done the best we could." A doctor said to him one day. "We were able to get her back, but..."

"But what?" Blackrock asked.

"She's paralyzed completely from the neck down with the exception of her right arm." The doctor explained. "She wants to see you."

"Of course." Blackrock nodded as he walked toward the door. He stopped and sighed a little before opening it and walking in, there she was lying there, eyes open, looking at the one part of her body that could still move.

"Mr. Blackrock." She said.

"Hello Josie." He said sitting down at the chair by her bed.

"I suppose you're here to fire me considering I can't quite do my job anymore." She said.

"No, I'm putting you on disability leave, least I could do." He said.

"Least indeed." She said.

"And of course I've already payed your hospital bills."

"So generous." She said somewhat flatly.

"Listen, Josie, I'm sorry that this happened, if there was anything I could do-" Blackrock began before Josie cut him off.

"It's those stupid robots, _they_ made me like this, not you. Now I'm stuck like this for the rest of my life without probably even a good word from Maximus Pride or whatever his name is!" She snarled angrily.

"I can arrange a good word from Optimus if you want." Blackrock said.

"I don't need their pity, I need to walk! Stand! Move! All the things I can't do anymore!" She exclaimed. "Just go." Blackrock looked at her quizzically. "Go Garrison."

"Very well." Blackrock sighed. "Goodbye Josie." He said as he shut the door behind him leaving Josie alone. On the television in the corner wall of the room the news played. **"PETTY CROOK NINO SEXTON AKA 'NANOSEC' BEHIND BARS THANKS TO AUTOBOT BUMBLEBEE"** scrolled across the screen, just the word Autobot was enough to make Josie fume with anger. She slammed her fist down hard on the monitor next to her bed.

"Stupid Autobots, they focus so much on things like this yet nobody stops and thinks about the mess they leave behind." She growled as she punched down had on the monitor again, breaking part of it and exposing wire, shocking her. "Ow!" She remarked, not noticing the jolt made her left arm move. When she saw her arm was in another position than it was before the shock, a thought occurred to her. "My arm! The electricity must have..." She placed her right hand on the exposed wire, sending another shock through, jerking her left arm to life. As long as she held her hand to the patch, her left arm could move! Perhaps if the voltage was stronger, more could be done... there was just one way to test that theory...

Later that night, the ex Decepticon and ex Autobot Starscream flew through the sky in his new alternate mode, coincidentally the same model of jet his brothers and trine mates Skywarp and Thundercracker had chosen. Where Decepticon symbols once were laid Autobot symbols, and over those were scratched and scrapes in a desperate attempt to get the accursed symbols off.

"I must admit, for a terrible mud ball of a planet, the cities aren't too bad a view to fly over." The Seeker remarked flying over the bustling city. "Almost makes me forget I'm both the enemy of the Decepticons _and_ the Autobots." He grumbled. "Good thing Skyfire tipped me off about the tracker, that was an easy fix. With any luck I should be able to escape any wrath Megatron has in store." Just then, two jets the same model as Starscream flew up beside him to his left and right. One black and purple, the other blue and red. "Oh slag..." Starscream sighed.

"Well well, look who it is Thundercracker!" The black and purple jet, Skywarp said.

"Someone's showing a lot of ball bearings flying around here!" Thundercracker remarked.

"I'm sorry, you must have me confused with some other fighter jet!" Starscream said as he flipped back and started to fly the other way.

"After him!" Thundercracker growled as the two jets turned around to pursue him.

/Skywarp to Megatron! Skywarp to Megatron!/ Skywarp commed.

/What is it Skywarp?/ Megatron asked.

/Visual on Starscream, headed due east!/ Skywarp commed.

/Excellent Skywarp, we'll be ready.../ Megatron laughed in a sinister tone through the com link. As Skywarp and Thundercracker pursued Starscream, Barricade, Scrapper, Blackarachnia, and Blitzwing stood with Megatron in a location that Starscream would be flying over in a matter of moments.

"On my command." Megatron said to his troops as they aimed for the sky. "Now!" He ordered, immediately the Decepticons fired up at the Seeker. Blackarachnia and Megatron were the only ones who actually hit Starscream, but that was enough to send the Seeker down. Starscream crashed down to the ground, not far from where the Decepticons stood. Grinning menacingly, Megatron walked over to Starscream, who had now transformed and had his two mounted blasters ready to fire at Megatron.

"Stay back! I will fire! I'll fire on all of you!" The Seeker said anxiously.

"Spare me this pathetic attempt at intimidation Starscream." Megatron scoffed as he kept walking toward him. "I must say, when we saw an Autobot signal arrive on our monitor we were intrigued as to what one would be doing out here, and now that I see that Autobot is you I am far more intrigued." He pointed to the still visible Autobot insignias on Starscream's wings.

"I can explain everything, Lord Megatron." Starscream got to his feet. "You see... I... I killed an Autobot! That's it, yes. I infiltrated their base claiming to want to switch sides, once I did and after I got their secrets and whereabouts I killed one of them and took his signal emitter as a trophy!" Megatron stood there in silence, unsure as to listen to Starscream or blast him to a pulp.

"You can't really believe that load of scrap, can you?" Scrapper said skeptically.

"Starscream has been known for treachery, who's to say the little weaseldroid isn't lying now?" Blackarachnia added.

"I can assure you I am telling the truth!" Starscream pleaded. "I can tell you the coordinates of the base right now!" Megatron grinned a little, Starscream was a treacherous idiot, but this information was too good to pass up.

"Very well Starscream." Megatron nodded. "Tell me the coordinates and I will have Soundwave dispatch Laserbeak to examine the area." Starscream recited the very coordinates of the Autobots and Megatron sent them to Soundwave, who sent Laserbeak and Buzzsaw off to check it out. If this checked out, perhaps Starscream wasn't as good as dead after all. Laserbeak and Buzzsaw flew across the sky eventually finding their way to the warehouse the Autobots call home, their video feed picked up directly to the monitor at Decepticon headquarters.

"Nothing to report. No Autobot lifeforms detected." Soundwave remarked at the data, just then, Laserbeak's video feed picked up and Autobot signal offsite of the base, this was Hound and Spike, his human friend returning from the drive-in movie theater, they had been playing all the Turner Classic Movies and tonight was _Frankenstein._ The Autobot and the human drove into the warehouse and Hound's signal disappeared. "Autobot found. The Autobots must be using signal dampeners within their headquarters." Soundwave remarked. "Buzzsaw, proceed to enter the base for better reconnaissance." With that command, Buzzsaw flew into the base and perched high up on a ceiling support beam. Sure enough, his video feed picked up all twelve Autobots.

"Lord Megatron, Starscream... speaks the truth. This is the Autobot headquarters." Soundwave confirmed.

"Excellent." Megatron grinned. "Well Starscream, it appears your spark has been saved. Now get back to base and have those disgusting symbols removed." Megatron ordered.

"Y-y-yes Lord Megatron." Starscream transformed and flew off to the base led by Skywarp and Thundercracker. Megatron stood and watched the three jets fly off. Barricade walked up to his leader, completely taken aback by what had happened.

"You _really_ just took Starscream back? After all of his treachery?" Barricade asked.

"Starscream is a despicable Cybertronnian, but... in some level I see a lot of myself in him. And that concerns me, Barricade. If Starscream were to form his own alliance he could prove a threat to my leadership. I keep him around to prevent him from getting ideas, you don't respect him. None of the Decepticons do, and as long as he is where nobody would dream of following him, I am content." Megatron explained.

"Why not just kill him?" Blackarachnia asked.

"There's no fun in that." Megatron grinned. "Decepticons, transform and rise up!" He commanded.

Days passed, Autobots and Decepticons fought, all while one human watched from the sidelines. Josie Beller found a way to transfer the circuitry of the machines around her to her own flesh and body. Eventually the current became so powerful that she could move freely... but that wasn't enough for what she had planned. She adapted the machinery covering her body to grant her superhuman strength, and after enough work, she even knew how to short out circuitry with her new suit.

"Now _that's_ what I call a Circuit Breaker." She grinned looking at the Nanny Bot she had tested her new powers on. "I dare say it's time to check myself out."

* * *

 _Who said new threats had to be Decepticons? Until next time!_


	9. The Ground Bridge

**Author's note:** So, it you like this story, please follow/favorite it and leave a review. That'd be cool for a few reasons: One, I know I'm not wasting my time here, and two: If you leave reviews, I know what people reading this want to see and I can provide it.

* * *

Chapter 9: The Ground Bridge

"What are you working on Wheeljack?" Optimus prime asked as he stepped into Wheeljack's workshop. He had been busy with Ratchet and Skyfire for the past few solar cycles with little to no explanation as to why.

"I've got a surprise Optimus!" Wheeljack exclaimed. "So, as you know, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker happened to be here on this planet, right?"

"Affirmative." Prime nodded.

"Well, I figured if there are Autobots hiding in plain sight here, there's a chance that there could be Decepticons here too. Argo, I think I've figured out a way to travel all over this planet at any moment's will!" He explained.

"Consider it a more primitive take on the space bridge technology, the same idea, but restricted to this planet." Ratchet continued.

"Introducing: The ground bridge!" Skyfire exclaimed.

"Interesting, is it complete?" Optimus asked.

"It's ready for a test run." Wheeljack nodded. "So, where to? Arkansas? Taiwan?"

"Easy, Wheeljack." Optimus stopped the excited engineer. "We should definitely not send one of our own on the test run. It's too risky."

"What are you saying? Don't trust my handiwork?" Wheeljack asked.

"I know I wouldn't." Ratchet spoke up.

"Just send a training drone through it." Skyfire suggested.

"Or Fanzone." Ratchet suggested. The medic's remark even made the often stoic and serious Optimus Prime chuckle a little.

"That won't be necessary Ratchet, I was think of something more along the lines of Skyfire's suggestion." Optimus said. "The training drones are all in Ironhide's quarters, you'll need to get them from him." Upon hearing what Wheeljack intended using the training drone for Ironhide was reluctant to just give up one of the drones, but after enough coaxing and one of Wheeljack's high grade cubes promised to him he caved in.

"Poor Sparky's had a good life..." Ironhide sighed as he watched Wheeljack fire up the ground bridge and began controlling the drone. Sparky was a name Ironhide gave one of the drones, along with Slagheap, Scraps, and Shakes.

"Sparky's going to be fine." Ratchet reassured Ironhide. "Send him through Wheeljack." Wheeljack nodded and controlled the drone to walk through the large blue portal that had appeared in the wall, the drone disappeared and the portal did with him.

"Well, nothing exploded, that's a good start." Skyfire remarked.

"Open in on the drone's monitor sensors on Teletraan One, if the drone is online that is." Optimus ordered. Wheeljack immediately punched in the coordinates the drone had been sent to, sure enough, the signal was online and a video feed was picking up, the Ground Bridge worked!

"Ha ha! Lookit that Optimus! The ground bridge worked!" Wheeljack remarked. "This'll be a great asset against Megatron!"

"It sure will, Wheeljack." Optimus nodded.

"Would somebody open up the bridge and get Sparky back here!?" Ironhide exclaimed.

"Easy Ironhide, pull the switch Skyfire." Ratchet directed. Skyfire nodded and pulled the switch, causing the bridge to reappear. Ratchet walked slowly through the portal and disappeared, he then reappeared with the drone in hand. "There you go Ironhide." Ratchet chuckled. "Processor feels a little funny after going through that... definitely will take some getting used to."

"Now for phase two." Wheeljack said. "Launch the sky-spy!" He exclaimed. With the push of a button the small satellite was launched into space, hovering above the Earth. "Now, thanks to the sky-spy, we'll pick up any sort of Cybertronian energy signature all across the globe."

"And we'll be able to contact them, thanks to the ground bridge." Ratchet grinned.

"Valiant work Wheeljack, I am very impressed." Optimus commended the Autobot mechanic. At that point, Prowl ran into the room in a blur, panting.

"Optimus, you wouldn't believe it." Prowl remarked. "Just a moment ago Teletraan One started coming online receiving signals from all over the planet!"

"I'd believe it Prowl." Optimus chuckled. "Well Wheeljack, I would say it's time to take your new creation for a test spin. Where's the nearest signal Prowl?"

"The Chihuahan Desert, Texas." Prowl noted.

"It's punched in!" Skyfire said as he punched the area code into the computer by the ground bridge.

"Wheeljack, Ironhide, Prowl, get Mirage and the four of you check out the signal." Optimus commanded. "I will accompany you." As soon as Prowl returned dragging Mirage by the shoulder, Prime commanded Skyfire to pull the switch. "Autobots, transform and roll out!" He commanded as he transformed into his semi truck mode and drove through the ground bridge. Wheeljack, Mirage, Prowl, and Ironhide followed. The five Autobots landed in the center of the desert, Wheeljack took out a small device and looked at the screen.

"According to Epsilon the signal is somewhere in this square mile." Wheeljack remarked.

"Which means it also knows we're here, doesn't it?" Mirage asked.

"So much for the element of surprise." Ironhide sighed.

"Now, we don't know whether this signal is Autobot or Decepticon." Optimus reminded the group. "But it doesn't hurt to be prepared." He said arming his blaster. "Fellow Cybertronian," Optimus called out. "Identify yourself." Nothing, unbeknownst to the group of Autobots, behind them a large golden metallic cobra head peeked out of the ground and fired a beam from the mouth at Prowl, knocking him down hard.

"Ohhh that's it." Ironhide growled and soon two large gatling guns came from his forearms. Without warning he began to fire rapidly around him, laughing.

"Ironhide!" Optimus scolded. "There is no need for hostility."

"Oh I think there's plenty a' need for hostility." I voice with a sly southern drawl chuckled behind them, it was the cobra head! The Autobots turned and looked at the head.

"The life signal was a big Cyber-Serpent?" Wheeljack asked.

"I ain't no Cyber-Serpent." The snake head chuckled as the rest of the body emerged from beneath the sand. The snake head was just the tip of the iceberg on this robot, the cobra head was actually the tip of the tail on a large golden robot scorpion. The creature transformed into a robot form just a little taller than Prowl and Wheeljack. The legs on the scorpion formed one large claw on his left arm, and the cobra head went where the right hand would be. Two large red eyes glowed on his head, where a mouth or sometimes even a faceplate would be on a Transformer was what just looked like a simple speaker, but he talked all the same. "The name's Quickstrike." The Transformer chuckled. "Don't bother tryna talk things out with me, now that just doesn't work." He said menacingly.

"No way... A Fuzor!" Wheeljack remarked.

"A Fuzor?" Prowl asked. "I never thought they really existed." A Fuzor was a special type of Transformer back when they first experimented with triple changing technology back in the War for Cybertron, they never could quite figure out the engineering and the test subject always ended up going mad, as for an alternate mode Fuzors turned into a creepy combination of two different things, often creatures.

"I'm a Fuzor alright, a Fuzor who's ready to kick your sorry Autobot afts!" Quickstrike laughed before firing off rapidly at the group. The Autobots took refuge behind large rocks nearby.

"Now hold on a second, what're we doin' hiding?" Ironhide asked. "There's five of us, an' one of him."

"One of him who is extremely dangerous with a one track processor for violence." Prowl remarked.

"That means he has a _no_ track processor for intelligence, we can outsmart him!" Wheeljack said.

"That shouldn't be all that difficult." Mirage nodded.

"Ironhide, Prowl, and I will take him from here. Wheeljack, Mirage, think you can get the drop on him?" Optimus asked.

"I'd say that would work." Wheeljack chuckled as he ignited his rocket pack. Meanwhile, Quickstrike continued to fire at the rocks they hid behind before growling.

"Aw c'mon! This ain't any fun without any fire on the other side!" He groaned before Ironhide lept out from behind with his guns blazing.

"Y'wanna have some fun Creepy Critter? Let's have some fun!" Ironhide growled firing off at Quickstrike. Prowl and Optimus joined him firing at the Fuzor. Meanwhile, above the ground, Wheeljack flew up into the sky holding onto Mirage.

"Now, just in case he happens to look up, y'may wanna turn on your party trick now." Wheeljack told Mirage.

"You've got it." Mirage nodded before going invisible.

"You ready?" Wheeljack asked. "I think we're right in line."

"Do it!" The voice of Mirage spoke up. At the command, Wheeljack released Mirage and let him fall down to the Fuzor. Optimus and Prowl saw Wheeljack give a thumbs up before floating down to the ground and they ceased firing.

"What's the matter Autobots? Outta ammo?" Quickstrike chuckled.

"Nope. You're just outta luck." Ironhide chuckled before Mirage landed directly on the Decepticon, knocking him down to the ground. Quickstrike groaned in pain as the Autobot aristocrat brushed himself off and walked off the Fuzor.

"Thanks for cushioning my fall." Mirage chuckled before aiming his blaster at him. "Ready to surrender?"

"Quickstrike doesn't surrender, Autobrat." Quickstrike growled, swinging his cobra coil arm and tripping Mirage, he quickly burrowed underground into the sand.

"Where'd he go!?" Ironhide hollered before firing off at the ground.

"Leave him Ironhide." Optimus instructed. "He's not worth the trouble."

/Wheeljack to Skyfire, come in!/ Wheeljack commed back to base.

/Read you loud and clear Wheeljack./ Skyfire commed back. /Ready to come home./

/Sure are!/ Wheeljack replied, in mere moments a large portal appeared in front of the group and they walked through it. Unbeknownst to them, from a peak in the desert they had been watched by Laserbeak, who's video feed played on Megatron's command console being watched by Megatron and Soundwave.

"Most interesting, the Autobots have ground bridge tech now..." Megatron remarked.

"And it appears we are not alone on this planet." Soundwave added.

"Lock in on his com link Soundwave." Megatron ordered.

"As you command, Lord Megatron." Soundwave nodded before typing on the keyboard. In moments they were able to hear Quickstrike murmuring to himself about the Autobots. Megatron tapped the microphone on the keyboard and spoke to the Fuzor.

/Valiant work, that was an impressive display, Quickstrike was it?/ Megatron commed, Quickstrike jumped up in surprise, since it had been centuries since someone had spoken through his com link.

/Now who in the pits of Kaon is this!?/ Quickstrike demanded.

/I am the Decepticon leader Megatron, perhaps you have heard of me?/ Megatron grinned.

/Lord Megatron!? No slagging way! What are you doing on this mud ball?/ Quickstrike commed.

/That's a long story./ Megatron commed. /Perhaps you would be interested in joining us in taking Cybertron back from the Autobots?/

/You bet your titanium plated aft I would be!/ Quickstrike replied excitedly.

/I had a feeling you'd say that./ Megatron replied. /No Decepticon should have to spend their life in a desert, with nothing to do but scare off organic hikers and tourists. Soundwave will send you the coordinates now./ As he said that, Soundwave continued typing, this time the coordinates to the Decepticon headquarters to Quickstrike's inner processor.

/I've got 'em!/ Quickstrike said through the com link.

/Good, and tell any others of our kin that you may know of on this world that the Decpeticons have returned, and this time... they won't be defeated./ Megatron grinned menacingly.

/Will do Megatron!/ Quickstrike replied before shutting off his com link.

"Excellent..." Megatron chuckled to himself. "Soundwave, have Rumble and Frenzy clear out a new quarters for our new team mate."

"As you command Megatron." Soundwave nodded before dispatching Rumble and Frenzy. "Operation: House warming." He ordered the two little Decepticons.

"Remember back when he'd tell us stuff like "Operation: Destruction" and stuff like that?" Frenzy asked his brother as the two roamed off to get to work.

"Tell me about it. What's next? "Operation: Cuddle?" Rumble snorted.

"What's next will be "Operation: Two Casseticons get slagged by Megatron" if you don't get your afts in line!" Megatron called angrily, causing the two to run off in fear. "Minicons..." He muttered. "Can't live with them, can't melt them down for spare parts..."

"Tell me about it." One of the Reflector units chuckled, leaning on their leaders leg.

"Get away from me, you outdated model." Megatron scoffed, walking away from the mini spy.

"You like me, don't you Soundwave?" The unit asked.

"Negative. Soundwave 'likes' nobody." Soundwave replied coldly. "But in comparison to others withing the Decpeticon ranks, unit: Reflector has been proven to be more useful than others."

"Like Starscream, am I right?" The unit chuckled.

"Affirmative." Soundwave nodded. One solar cycle later, the latest addition to Megatron's team arrived at the base and made himself at home, much to the annoyance of some of the other Decepticons. Needless to say, Quickstrike was by no means the most polite Decepticon, in fact he was quite the contrary, he was loud, obnoxious, and would leave his empty Energon cubes just lying around. But there was something one Decepticon noticed in him, this Decepticon was Starscream.

"He's stupid." He remarked. "Really, really... _really_ stupid. Stupid enough that he could be used to my advantage." Starscream said to himself as he concocted a plan in a data-pad. "Blitzwing: Big, powerful, and unpredictable. Not overly loyal, would be easy to fool into following. Quickstrike: Remarkable firepower, yet stupid. Questionable loyalty, would probably sway for better energon." He wrote. "Almost there... soon control over the Decepticons will be mine." He chuckled menacingly. Starscream was foolish to think that he was saying this to himself alone, lurking in the shadows was the ever loyal communications officer, Soundwave, hearing every word of Starscream's latest scheme. Meanwhile, at the Autobot's headquarters, they were about to unearth something big.

"Optimus, the sky-spy is picking up an energon signal in the Atlantic Ocean." Prowl looked at Teletraan One. "It's off the charts, I've never seen readings like it."

"Fire up the ground bridge!" Optimus called out. "Sideswipe, Bumblebee, Hound, Ratchet, with me." The group of Autobots went through the ground bridge, immediately finding themselves at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

"Shouldn't be far. My sensors are going off like crazy." Ratchet remarked.

"I think I see it!" Hound pointed at a luminescent object not far from them. The group made there way over to the object, it was partially buried by rocks and coral.

"Sideswipe, activate piledrivers." Optimus ordered. Sideswipe nodded and started pounding at the rock, breaking it away. When they unearthed the object, none of them could believe their optics.

"By the Matrix..." Bumblebee remarked.

"Is that...?" Hound asked.

"The Allspark?" Ratchet concluded.

 ** _To be continued..._**


	10. Into Motion Part 1

**Author's note:** Officially kicking off the arc that closes off the first phase of of Roll Out!

* * *

Chapter 10: Into Motion Part 1: The Allspark

"We need communications with Ultra Magnus and the council now!" Optimus exclaimed the moment the group of Autobots returned with the discovered artifact.

"Optimus, the communications aren't online yet." Prowl said. "What happened?"

"See for yourself." Hound said setting the artifact down carefully, it was an orange rectangular box with big silver handles, in the middle of one side of the box was a whole where a bright luminescent blue light from a crystal within shined through. This was the Allspark, an artifact that for eons was the core of Cybertronian life, it had the power of creating Cybertronian life and was responsible for the creation of Cybertron itself.

"No way..." Wheeljack remarked. "The Allspark? Here? On this planet!?"

"There's no way this is possible, everyone knows the Allspark rests in the catacombs of Vector Sigma directly under Iacon city." Prowl said skeptically.

"That's just an old bot's tale Prowl." Ratchet chuckled. "The "Allspark" resting there is nothing but a decoy set to attract tourists and to fool any Decepticon that ever wanted to take it."

"So... what's the real Allspark doing here?" Bumblebee asked.

"I can explain that." Ratchet said with a reminiscing smile.

* * *

Cybertron: Four million years ago

"It's too risky for the Allspark to remain here on Cybertron, we may have defeated the Decepticons, but who knows when they could return?" A tall blocky Autobot who was primarily blue with a red chestplate, large white shoulder pads with large red missiles attached to them, this Autobot was the supreme Autobot commander, Ultra Magnus. Second only to one other Cybertronian, Alpha Trion.

"I can see your reasoning, Ultra Magnus." Alpha Trion nodded, stroking his flowing metallic beard. Unlike most Cybertronians, Alpha Trion had a more rounded build, with no visible representation of an alternate mode, rumor was he had no alternate mode, other rumors claimed he could transform into anything, nobody knew the truth. Another Cybertronian stood by his side, he was a primarily red Autobot with a blue waist and forearms, a deployer like chest piece stuck out from his chest and a shoulder cannon perched up, this was the head Autobot of the Autobot Ministry of Science, Perceptor.

"Alpha Trion, if I may," Perceptor spoke up. "Are we really sure we want to fire off the most important piece of Cybertronian history into deep space?" His voice rang with a dry tone and an accent similar to a British earthling.

"Hey, Geekatron, why don't you pipe down huh? Alpha Trion gave the okay." A broad blue and grey Autobot said rudely approaching Perceptor, orange shields covered his shoulders and his chin stuck out like an asteroid. This was Ultra Magnus' apprentice and trainee, Sentinel Major, who was on his way to graduating to Prime. Not many liked him, in fact he bullied his way to his position, and frankly, he didn't care. "Get me Highbrow, Brainstorm, and Chromedome immediately!" He bellowed to a young medical officer standing by Perceptor, this was Ratchet, four million years younger than the present day.

"D'um... sir yes sir!" Ratchet nodded before running out of the room and looking for the three scientist bots. When he found them, he filled them in on the plan to send the Allspark off planet.

"You want us to do what now?" Brainstorm asked skeptically.

"This is ridiculous, you mean Ultra Magnus came up with this?" Chromedome nodded.

"Well, he suggested it. Sentinel Major-Jerk enforced it." Ratchet explained.

"Now that makes sense." Highbrow chuckled. "I still don't feel very good about this."

"Neither do I..." Ratchet shook his head. "But, Alpha Trion gave it the okay, so there isn't really any arguing with him."

"He's a set in his ways bot, that's for sure." Brainstorm nodded.

"Kind of like your brother... Hardhat was it?" Ratchet asked, eluding to the group's fourth brother.

"Hardhead." Chromedome corrected. "Another bot stubborn to the spark."

* * *

"Ratchet, is this conversation important to the story?" Mirage spoke up, back in the present.

"Do you want to know what the Allspark's doing here or not!?" Ratchet sneered. "Anyway..."

* * *

"We'll design the pod, though frankly we don't quite agree with the idea." Brainstorm said when the three approached Alpha Trion and the others.

"Excellent," Alpha Trion grinned. "Highbrow, could you select a remote area that the Decpeticons would never think of looking for it if they ever knew the Allspark was off world?"

"I think I already know the perfect place." He chuckled. "In my studies I've come across a planet in a neighboring galaxy, it has yet to develop any intelligent life forms, whether robotic or organic. Naturally it is an organic planet, a place the Decepticons would never look. It's so underdeveloped it doesn't even have a name."

"Excellent." Ultra Magnus nodded approvingly. "How long until the pod is built?"

"We can have it to you next solar cycle." Chromedome said. "For a price." That remarked earned a swift smack from the older brother, Brainstorm.

"No charge." Brainstorm corrected. "Come, Highbrow, Chromedome." He led the group out of the chamber. The five Autobots stood there in silence, until Sentinel Major looked at Ratchet.

"What are you still doing here, field mech? Beat it!" He hollered. Ratchet grumbled a few choice words about the soldier before leaving. The next solar cycle, Ultra Magnus, Sentinel Major, Alpha Trion, Perceptor, Brainstorm, Chromedome, Highbrow, and Ratchet met where the pod was to be launched from, Ratchet was tasked with the job of making sure the Allspark was transported safely, his subspace storage in his alt mode meant for hauling wounded soldiers made for convenient carry space.

"Medical officer Ratchet, I trust you have it?" Perceptor asked upon his arrival.

"It's in my subspace." Ratchet confirmed.

"Excellent. Chromedome, Highbrow, remove the artifact." Ultra Magnus ordered them. Ratchet opened the canopy on his alternate mode so that it was accessible to the two Autobots. Chromedome and Highbrow carefully lifted up the Allspark and set it into the pod, Brainstorm sealed the hatch and pressed a button on a handheld controller, preparing launch.

"Now, we're sure we want to do this?" Brainstorm asked. "I haven't launched it yet."

"Launch it Brainstorm." Ultra Magnus nodded. Doing as he was told, Brainstorm initiated the final stage of launch and the capsule was sent off into space. The bots watching all stood and exchanged looks with one another.

"Should we tell everyone what we just did?" Chromedome asked. "Sending the Allspark into space is a big deal after all."

"I don't believe that will be necessary, if Megatron ever found out we sent the Allspark off planet, we would have to police the entire galaxy to make sure they didn't intercept it." Ultra Magnus explained. And so, a decoy was constructed and placed where the Allspark was. Those eight Autobots were the only ones who ever knew the truth about what happened to it until now.

* * *

"So hold on." Sunstreaker said now that Ratchet was done his story. "I came online after the War for Cybertron, if the Allspark was jettisoned into space, how was that possible?"

"Luckily with the Allspark a little can go a long way." Wheeljack explained. "Only a chunk the size of a frag grenade can bring entire generations online. Chances are they kept pieces of it for repopulation of the planet."

"That's exactly right Wheeljack." Ratchet nodded. "Open the casing and see for yourself." When the casing around it was opened, the large blue crystal was exposed, making the chunk taken out of it quite visible. "Ultra Magnus had Brainstorm remove a piece of it to repopulate Cybertron, hoping that by the time we needed the whole Allspark again that the Decepticon threat had been completely eliminated.

"Which... it isn't." Skyfire remarked.

"Yeah! We're here with the Allspark. _The_ Allspark! With who else but Megatron and his top soldiers on this planet with us!" Sideswipe said anxiously.

"We're all going to die." Mirage moped.

"Not necessarily. The Decepticons don't know where we are operating, they don't know we have the Allspark, if we can just keep it that way there's nothing to worry about." Wheeljack said.

"We need to get Ultra Magnus here so he can take it back to Cybertron!" Bumblebee exclaimed.

"It's in just as much danger there as it is here." Ironhide sighed. "Out in space they have Straxus and other Cons to worry about."

"Not to mention all the other non-Cybertronians who want their servos on it." Wheeljack nodded.

"But regardless, the Decepticons don't know the Allspark is in our possession. So long as it stays that way, we have nothing to worry about." Optimus said, trying to list the spirits of his crew.

"Nothing more than everything we _already have_ to worry about..." Prowl corrected. "Wheeljack, we need you to attempt to get communications with Cybertron online now, whether the Allspark is being moved from here or not we need to let Ultra Magnus know it's here."

"I'll see what I can do." Wheeljack nodded before getting to work.

"What do we do about the Allspark now?" Jazz asked Optimus.

"Life goes on as normal. As long as the Decpeticons don't know where we operate and that we have it everything will be fine." Optimus explained, unfortunately, those words were about to be eaten. Not far from the base flew Starscream, Skywarp, and Thundercracker. Ready to make it known the Autobot base was no longer a secret.

"Be ready to call the others if need be." Thundercracker said.

"That won't be necessary." Starscream scoffed. "Decepticons, transform!" He commanded. The three fighter jets transformed and hovered over the base, decreasing in altitude gradually. Mirage and Sunstreaker were on the roof of the base at the time, Mirage looked up and saw the three Seekers.

"Oh slag..." He remarked. Sunstreaker looked up and gasped.

"They know where we are?" Sunstreaker coughed.

"I guess they do now..." Mirage nodded. /Optimus, Prowl, Jazz, you might wanna take a look at this./ He commed. In mere moments, Optimus and the others ran up to see Starscream and the other Seekers hovering above.

"Ah, look who it is, Optimus Prime." Starscream grinned.

"Starscream..." Optimus grimaced. "Your old clan let you back in I see."

"Reluctantly." Thundercracker remarked.

"Since you were stupid enough to let me in, I knew the location of your base, how you operate, your defense systems, information Megatron just couldn't pass up." Starscream grinned. "Decepticons, attack!" He ordered the two other Seekers. The three landed and began firing at the Autobots on the roof, hearing the commotion, Ironhide and the other Autobots ran up to see what was going on. The twelve Autobots now against the three Decepticons.

"Starscream, I thought you killed one and took his signal emitter." Skywarp remarked. "Was there just another Autobot we don't know about?"

"Well, no." Starscream admitted.

"Who cares about that now?" Thundercracker, often the voice of reason between the three brothers said. "We're outnumbered!"

/Skywarp to Soundwave! Requesting backup!/ Skywarp commed to base.

/Backup on it's way./ Soundwave replied. Before long, more warriors arrived at the Autobot headquarters, most frighteningly to the Autobots was Megatron himself, who they had not actually seen since the first battle they had on Earth.

"Looks like your little game of hide-and-seek is over, Prime." Megatron grinned. Optimus clenched his fist around his blaster and glared at the Decepticon leader.

"That may be the case. We can always relocate." He replied.

"When I'm through with you, there won't be enough left to relocate to the trash compactor!" Megatron bellowed. "Attack!" He ordered his troops. It was now all of the Decepticons versus all the Autobots. A battle far too big to be on the roof of the warehouse, quickly the battle was spread out to a wider area. Skyfire and Hound fled into the base to guard the Allspark just in case a Decepticon got inside by Prime's orders. Meanwhile, the large scale battle attracted attention from the police force and Fanzone soon pulled up to the scene with a squadron behind him.

"Optimus, what in the hell is going on here?" Fanzone asked.

"Stay back Captain!" Optimus hollered before Megatron sent him falling back with a hard punch. "We cannot endanger human lives!"

"Except for that chick who got paralyzed and is now missing from the hospital?" Fanzone asked.

"We put out a public apology!" Bumblebee spoke up as he fought with the robotic panther Ravage. Fanzone just sighed.

"Optimus, need I remind you that you're having your little war on our planet? I get to call troops in when I feel necessary." Fanzone reminded him.

"You want to damn your own kind? Go ahead." Prowl muttered taking Scrapper and dodging fire in the sky from Thundercraker.

"Prowl!" Ironhide hollered. "You can't just let them in on a suicide mission like that!"

"I think you underestimate just what we can do." A rugged male human with shaggy brown hair and a slight goatee. This was Lt. Colonel William Lennox, a soldier in the United States Military. "Eagle dive on target LM217 now!" He hollered into a radio. Almost immediately, a fighter jet swarmed down and laid a barrage of missiles into Barricade, sending him down for the count. Prowl and Ironhide stood and watched, slightly taken aback.

"Well, I suppose you can help out." Prowl said.

"I certainly wouldn't mind." Ironhide nodded.

"Good, watch their backs!" Optimus commanded the two officers as he kept fighting Megatron. Using his blaster, he fired off an entire clip into Megatron, hoping to at least dent the shell of the menacing Decepticon who stood the height of a small Autobot taller than Optimus. It worked, but not good enough, the firepower was only enough to fuel the rage inside of Megatron more, making him even more dangerous. veins of a bright purple glowed throughout Megatron's body, this was pure, raw energon. He aimed his fusion cannon at the Autobot leader and began to fire.

"DIE OPTIMUS PRIME!" Megatron bellowed out with maniacal laughter as he fired off his cannon. He delivered one blasted that hit Optimus square in the chest, blasting him into the outer wall of the warehouse base, sending him crashing through the wall. Optimus groaned in pain, energon leaking from him and rubble and dust covering him. Megatron came walking through the large hole made in the wall towards Optimus.

"Let today be lesson for all of you Autobots!" Megatron hollered out, with a voice that would echo across an entire city. "This is what happens when you stand between The Decepticons... and conquest." He grinned before aiming his fusion cannon at Prime, charging it. "Goodbye Optimus Prime."

"NO!" A voice yelled out from the sidelines. An Autobot came charging forward, ready to defend his leader. None other than Optimus' second in command, Jazz.

"Jazz! Stay back!" Optimus commanded. But Jazz wouldn't listen, he charged and jumped in between Prime and Megatron as he fired, sending the blast crashing into himself instead of his leader. When the blast faded and the smoke cleared, Jazz fell to the floor, leaking fluids badly, the glow in his optics fading.

"Wasted a perfectly good shot on that worthless Autobot." Megatron sighed.

"That 'worthless Autobot' had more valor and dignity than you ever will!" Optimus growled standing to his feet and blasting at Megatron. Immediately, Ratchet was on the scene, trying to patch up the Autobot before taking him in for extensive repairs. Charging at Megatron, Optimus tossed his blaster aside and began throwing hard punches at the Decepticon leader, a force of rage behind them seldom seen in the Autobot. he punched, he kicked, he beat Megatron in ways both of them were unaware were possible. This sheer rage was unlike anything Megatron had witnessed in Optimus, and in a way gave him a sense of respect for him that he would never tell him.

The fight between Optimus and Megatron continued through the base, knocking down walls, breaking old factory machinery and using it as a weapon to beat the tar out of the other. Until one fateful moment when Megatron got the upper hand... he had blasted the ceiling and sent a big chunk down on Optimus, temporarily immobilizing him. Megatron stood there and chuckled before he heard the timid stammering of an Autobot behind him. He turned to see Hound, ready with his blaster. Skyfire standing behind him.

"Stay back Megatron!" Hound said. "I'll shoot!"

"You don't concern me, Autobot." Megatron scoffed at the Autobot. "I have more important matters too..." Suddenly, a signal picked up on his scanners. A signal he hadn't gotten in a long time. "You have it..." He said.

"He said _stay back._ " Skyfire said, arming his blaster.

"Give it to me." Megatron said menacingly. "The Allspark." The two Autobots stood their ground, not saying a word, Megatron looked at them with an arched eyebrow. "If you don't _want_ to give it to me that's fine. It just means I'll have to kill you before I take it."

"Don't you dare, Megatron." Optimus said behind him, now standing with his blaster aimed at Megatron. "It's me you want, not them."

"Optimus... you used to be what I was after today, but now... now I am after something _far_ more valuable." Megatron grinned before he suddenly blasted down both Hound and Skyfire, sending the two falling to the floor. He then blasted Optimus down with them, leaving him free to take what he wanted. Megatron made his way through the hall they were blocking off. "Such heroic nonsense..." He muttered.

Before long, he found what he was looking for. Megatron picked the relic up and grinned at it. "It's been so long..." He said. He then blasted yet another hole in the ceiling and lept from it. Clutching the Allspark. Standing on the roof of the building he called out to his troops.

"Decepticons! Fall back!" He commanded.

"But we have the upper hand Megatron!" Starscream whined. "This is yet another reason _I_ would make a superior leader than you!"

"Starscream, we _do_ have the upper hand." He said as he held up the Allspark. "We have no need to surround ourselves with these pathetic excuses for Cybertronians any longer. To base!" He bellowed as he took to the sky, the other Decpeticons soon followed suit, leaving the Autobots, damaged from battle and the humans behind with the mess made of the vicinity.

"How could this have happened Optimus?" Prowl asked, looking around for his leader. "Optimus?" He asked when he saw his leader was nowhere to be found.

"Everybot in here now!" Ratchet hollered from inside the base. Inside Ratchet had laid out Jazz, Skyfire, Hound, and Optimus. Working as hard as he could on all of them. "Wheeljack, I need your help."

"On it." Wheeljack nodded getting to work.

"I did the best I could Optimus... I... I did the best I could..." Hound said weakly to his leader.

"I know you did Hound." Optimus said slowly, in a more low, lethargic tone.

"Are they going to be okay?" Sideswipe asked.

"No telling, kid." Ironhide sighed. "Optimus has pulled through worse, Skyfire wasn't hit too bad... then, Jazz and Hound... they had never had to take a hit like that before. It's real shock to the system, I... I don't know about them." At that moment, four teenage children came running into the base frantically. Spike, Chip, Carly, and Sari. Who had fortunately for their safety away when the attack happened.

"Jazz!" The teenage girl, Carly exclaimed running up to the Autobot soldier, clinging to life. She grabbed onto his large hand looking at him. The two had become good friends during the past little while, so it would be obvious that walking in to see this would be a shock to say the least.

"Hey..." Jazz coughed. "Hey Carly." He said, still with a slight grin Jazz always had. "It's alright... I'm gonna be fine." He said reassuringly, looking over at Spike and Hound having nearly the same conversation.

"I'm going to need to put Jazz and Hound into a temporary stasis so I can work on them." Ratchet told the two teens. "Your friends will be okay." He said. Ratchet then knelt down and put an injection into Jazz and Hound, placing them into their stasis. "Skyfire's wounds are the least extensive, if we get him back in order he can help us with the other three." He thought out loud. "Prowl, Ironhide, care to give me a servo in moving these four into my workspace?"

"You've got it Doc bot." Ironhide nodded as he picked Jazz up gently.

"Oh, _you_ take the smaller one. Thanks." Prowl muttered as he struggled to pick up Hound, who was larger than him. With that, Ratchet and Wheeljack got to work. They even got the help of Spike's father, Sparkplug, who may not have known much about Cybertronian technology, but he did know how to do mechanical repair work. And they needed all the help they could get.

Days passed, the Decepticons surprisingly didn't make another move. Meanwhile, the Autobots waited anxiously for the news of their four friends. Skyfire was the first to be operational again, and quickly began aiding in the restoration of the others. Between the state of their friends and the loss of the Allspark, it was not a cheery time for the Autobots. The only good thing was that Wheeljack had finally been able to get communications with Cybertron online.

"Prowl to Cybertron. Come in. Autobot Prowl to Cybertron." Prowl spoke into the microphone attachment of Teletraan One.

"Hello? Hello! This is Scrounge with off planet communications, how can I help you?" A golden colored Autobot appeared on the screen. Two large circular glowing eyes on a cone shaped head with no visible form of a mouth.

"We need to speak to Ultra Magnus. This is urgent." Prowl said.

"Ultra Magnus huh?" Scrounge asked. "Yeah no can do. UM is busy giving a speech at the University of Iacon. Kinda wish I could be there, but you know, gotta pay the bills right?" Scrounge chuckled.

"Look, Scrounge, is there anybot we could talk to? This is very important." Prowl sighed.

"I could patch you in to his associate if you want." Scrounge suggested.

"Fine. Yes. Whatever." Prowl said impatiently. The channel then switched, now behind the screen was a bot familiar to many. Sentinel Major.

"Who are you?" The Autobot general asked.

"My name is Prowl. I'm the chief strategist and security officer for Optimus Prime." Prowl explained.

"Optimus? That self righteous bore is still online? We thought you all offlined a centicyle ago." Sentinel scoffed.

"You glitching twerp!" Ironhide scoffed at the Autobot. "You listen to me, Sentinel Major, Optimus Prime has more ball bearings than you _ever_ will!"

"It's Sentinel _Prime,_ actually." Sentinel boasted. "And Ultra Magnus must not have thought so, after all he sent _your_ team on some silly little quest, while he promoted me to practically running Cybertron!"

"Running it into the ground maybe." Sunstreaker muttered.

"Sentinel, this is important." Prowl said. "The Allspark is here. On this planet."

"What?" Sentinel asked. "And why does that matter?"

"Because not only is the Allspark here, but so is Megatron." Prowl explained.

"And Starscream." Bumblebee spoke up.

"Shockwave." Mirage added.

"Soundwave too." Ironhide said. Sentinel just looked at them, shocked.

"Oh... I see." Sentinel remarked. "Where is Optimus?"

"Optimus is unavailable right now." Prowl said.

"And the Allspark? Where is that?" Sentinel asked.

"That's just it..." Bumblebee began. "See, Megatron kind of took it."

" _WHAT!?"_ Sentinel bellowed. "Okay..." he sighed. "Clearly we shouldn't have sent your team on this mission. You weren't qualified I can tell. I'll have an extraction team sent down to handle taking back the Allspark, then, your team will be escorted back to Cybertron." He said.

"Sir, with all due respect we _are_ capable." Prowl spoke up.

"What I say is final." Sentinel said hastily. "End of communications." He turned the monitor off. The Autobots looked around the room exchanging looks and sighed.

"You're... leaving?" Sari asked Bumblebee.

"No way!" Bumblebee shook his head. "At least... I hope not." This had been a bad turn of events. The Decepticons had the Allspark. Hound, Jazz, and Optimus were still down for the count, and now they were going to be forced to leave the planet they had really grown to like. Nobody was happy.

Meanwhile, at the Decepticon headquarters, two schemes were hatching. Two schemes that would clash horribly for one and greatly for the other. The question would be which one would prevail.

"You like that?" Starscream asked the Decepticon Fuzor, who was sipping on a cube of high grade energon. Far better than anything the Fuzor ever tasted.

"Mighty scrumptious, thanks Screamer!" Quickstrike nodded.

"There's plenty more where that came from, but... I'll need something from you." Starscream said.

"And what's that?" Quickstrike asked.

"It's time for a change. Megatron is no longer suitable to lead us. _I_ am. All I ask is join me in taking command, and you will have more energon than you can ever dream of." Starscream grinned.

"You've got a deal." Quickstrike chuckled.

"Excellent." Starcream smirked. So far, his plan was a success. As for Megatron, his plan was coming along swimmngly.

"Have you been enjoying your new toy, Shockwave?" Megatron asked.

"Indeed, Lord Megatron." Shockwave nodded. "Now, what is your plan?"

"This disgusting planet is covered with technology, from vehicles to appliances, I have developed schmatics for a missile. Something that we load the Allspark into and fire at the planet. The impact will grant life to every machine, which we will build our army from. Not only that, but the Cyvertronian energy will be enough to completely Cyberform Earth! Making it our new planet to control." Megatron grinned at his plan.

"A terrific plan my liege." Shockwave nodded approvingly as Megatron laughed.

 _ **To be continued...**_


	11. Into Motion Part 2

**Author's note:** Last time on Roll Out, the Decepticons took the Allspark, brutally damaging Optimus Prime, Jazz, and Hound. Upon hearing the news, Cybertronian Prime, Sentinel Prime, informed the Autobots that a reinforcement group would be coming to take the Allspark back and escort the group back to Cybertron. And finally, Megatron devised a plan to use the Allspark to Cyberform the planet! Will he succeed? Will the Autobots have to return to Cybertron? Whatever happened to Circuit Breaker? Tune in to this exciting chapter of Transform and Roll Out!

* * *

Chapter 11: Into Motion Part 2: New Arrivals

"Begin construction on the missile immediately Shockwave." Megatron commanded. "I'll have Scrapper and Thundercracker assist you."

"Yes, Lord Megatron." Shockwave nodded. Meanwhile, Starscream was in the middle of securing the last part of his plan, Blitzwing.

"May I come in?" Stascream asked, standing in the doorway of Blitzwing's quarters, Quickstrike beside him.

"Vhat is it, air commander Starscream?" Blitzwing asked, his neutral face showing.

"I love when I am addressed by my full title." Stascream grinned. "Blitzwing, I'm here to make an offer."

"Vhat kind of offer?" The triple changer replied, a tone of skepticism in his voice after the last deal he and Starscream made that almost got him slagged.

"One hell of an offer you won't wanna refuse, that's what!" Quickstrike spoke up.

"That's enough, Quickstrike." Starscream said diplomatically. "Blitzwing, I have come to make a deal with you. Megatron fails to see the potential in you as a warrior, I on the other hand do. Your ability to take on two alternate forms gives you an incredible advantage."

"It is also responsible for my personality defect, vhat is your point?" Blitzwing asked coldly.

"My point is that I am looking for a crew, a team. A group that will aid me in making the wrongs of Megatron right, a new hope for the Decepticon cause." Starscream explained. "I understand why you might not want to help me, but I'll make it worth your while. I can offer you a high rank over future recruits, your own armies to command, and, to sweeten the deal... what if I said I can fix your personality defect?" Starscream asked.

"You can?" Blitzwing asked.

"You'll never know if you don't give me a chance." Starscream grinned. "So, do we have a deal?" Starscream asked. Blitzwing was unsure, he thought about the ability to finally be able to shed the other personalities, he liked the idea. Just... a little too much.

"OOH! YAS! VE MOST CERTAINLY DO HAVE A DEAL!" Blitzwing shouted, his wildcard personality suddenly switching on, Starscream and Quickstrike jumped back in shock before Starscream grinned.

"Excellent." He laughed maniacally. Starscream had a terrific feeling about this plan, soon he would be leading the Decepticons to victory, and Megatron would be nothing but a memory.

At the Autobot base, everyone was still feeling gloomy over the recent news. But they had to try to put their happiest faces on and welcome the new crew coming to take the Allspark back. It was still hard to be happy with one of their men down for the count. Prime had managed to recover, Hound as well, but Jazz hadn't made much progress. He was still online, but hardly. Megatron's blast had gone straight through his abdomen, creating a giant hole and severely damaging essential components to survival. It was a quiet day at base, not much at all was happening. Spike, Carly, Chip, and Sari were there to make sure to get a little more time with their friends before their departure. Looking at the screen of Teletraan One, Prowl figited his digitals nervously, anticipating a transmission. Sure enough the transmission soon came.

"Here we go." He muttered. /This is Autobot Prowl of Team Optimus. Identify yourself./ He spoke into the mic.

/Hiya Prowl!/ A young voice spoke through the monitor. /Name's Powerglide. Autobot Powerglide, with Team Sentinel, listen, we're hovering in the planet's atmosphere right now, we're just lookin' for a place to park close to your base, care to send in your coordinates?/ He asked.

/The coordinates should appear on the monitor./ Prowl said flatly, feeling impatient as this was basic knowledge that the coordinates of the signal you were communicating with would appear on your monitor.

/That's what those are?/ Powerglide asked. /I'm not a computer bot myself, thanks pal! We'll see you soon!/ He said as he offlined the com link. Prowl sighed.

"Don't remind me." He muttered. Mirage was standing beside him and chuckled a little, crossing his arms and shaking his head.

"Gotta say, I didn't think you'd be sad to leave Earth." Mirage remarked.

"I'm not." Prowl said. "I'm frustrated, Megatron is here, the Allspark is here, Primus only knows what else could be, and just because of one battle going awry, some jerk in Ultra Magnus' office thinks we aren't cut out to handle this sector." He explained. "What about you? I honestly thought you hated it here."

"I do." Mirage said. "But the moment I set foot back on Cybertron I go back in the stockade, all for a crime I didn't do." He rolled his optics. "Not that you care about that, the cycles spent as a probation officer look nice on a resume. You wouldn't care if I was fed to Sharkticons."

"You're lucky that ridiculous punishment doesn't exist." Prowl said with gritted teeth. "Listen, Mirage. I don't know if you did it or not, but I'm just doing my job."

"Just like the bot who pulls the switch to blow up my spark chamber will just be doing his job." Mirage muttered, this was eating at Prowl, he really didn't need this from Mirage right now, but Mirage knew it bothered him, so he kept going, out of spite towards the officer. "I hope they melt my remains down into something nice, like a piece of sleek plating on a space cruiser. I just hope no part of me gets melted down into a blaster, such a clumsy and random weapon."

"I will see to it that you are melted down into an oil changing platform if you don't cease and desist." Prowl said with hostility.

"Go dunk an energex rim in your cube, Copper." Sunstreaker scoffed. "You're just mad that whichever team you apply to next will see this mission as a failure, and it's not just a mission, we're talking about Megatron himself, and not only that, but the oh-so-precious Allspark."

"That's a very logical reason to be angry." Prowl said, trying to keep from losing his cool.

"You know what I think?" Mirage asked. "I think you're just a scared little sparkling deep down. So desperate for recognition that you don't really care what you do, personally, I think you'd be a Decepticon if they didn't already have enough ground based mechs!"

"Mirage, take it easy." Hound instructed from the sidelines. "When we go back to Cybertron, we can try to make a case for you, we all will!"

"No you won't, the minute we arrive on Cybertron we all go our separate ways, except me and my shadow over here, who's going to lug me back to the stockade where I'll rot until they offline me." Mirage grimaced.

"That's enough! All of you!" Ironhide growled as he and Optimus walked in, hearing the commotion. "Prowl, back on the monitor. Mirage, disappear, it's what you do best. Sunstreaker, round up your brother and tell him to prepare for the arrival of Team Sentinel." He ordered.

"They should be here any second now." Prowl said. "I just spoke with one of them, he didn't seem like the brightest bot."

"Sentinel isn't the brightest bot either." Optimus said, with a slight chuckle.

"You know him?" Hound asked.

"Know him?" Optimus asked. "Hound, I've known Sentinel longer than I've known anybot else, well, maybe except for Ironhide."

"What's he like, Prime?" Bumblebee asked.

"Loud, big headed, pushy, but also quite cowardly." Optimus said. "I recall when I first became Prime, he was furious I got the title before he did." He chuckled reminiscently. "In fact, I'll tell you something, Sentinel is only where he is because his creators were quite wealthy, apparently that was enough to sway Ultra Magnus on deciding whether or not he'd be a Prime."

"Kinda sad when you think of it, Prime is a title you need to work for, you need a certain set of skills." Ironhide said.

"Like smokestacks on your shoulders?" Bumblebee asked.

"No you idjit!" Ironhide hollered. "Dignity, courage, tenacity, endurance, the list goes on."

"All things Sentinel Prime lacks." Ratchet spoke up, walking in. Carly noticed him and approached the Autobot medic.

"How's Jazz?" She asked.

"He's online." Ratchet stated. "But he's not doing great, he's in a stasis lock, not sure when he'll snap out of it."

"Kind of like a coma." Wheeljack explained.

"Don't worry, he'll be fine." Bumblebee smiled reassuringly.

"Maybe the medic from Team Sentinel might know what to do." Sideswipe said.

" _AND JUST WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!?_ " Ratchet snapped, his rare more ornery side showing.

"Uhh... Nothin!" Sideswipe said quickly. Just then, a loud noise that sounded like engine thrusters disengaging and the clang of landing gear came from outside the base and smoke clouded the outside.

"Time to look pretty." Ironhide sighed. "Ready Prime?" He asked.

"As I'll ever be." Optimus mumbled. The group stepped outside to address the new crew that they'd have to temporarily share their base with. The large door of the ship opened up and silhouettes of ten Autobots stood in the doorway, the ramp slowly descended and three of them stepped forward. Sentinel Prime in the center. Two his left was a tall and broad Autobot who was primarily red with a large blue screen on his chest and yellow markings reading a data pad. To his right was a pale green and white femme with a sleek build and wheels attached to struts on her shoulders.

"Sentinel, according to this, seventy one percent of the planet is water. Water!" The red Autobot exclaimed. "The moisture in the air is already making my joints rust."

"Heatwave, shut up." Sentinel rolled his eyes. "Well well, it's Optimus and his band of messy mechs." He chuckled. "Crying shame, for a centicycle I really thought you were offline. Primus I dreaded getting that transmission. And now, look at the mess you're in. Y'know, this is Quintessa all over again, remember Quintessa?" He chuckled. Ironhide clenched his fists and grumbled a little listening to the cocky Autobot disrespect his team leader and oldest friend.

"Alright sir, I think you've got him." The femme rolled her optics a little. "Hi. Name's Moonracer, I'm Sentinel's intelligence officer." She extended her servo to Optimus Prime, who shook it. "I suppose you should probably mean the rest of the crew, this guy right here is Heatwave, he's the... well I'm not really sure, I just call him the worry wart."

"I am Sentinel's adviser!" Heatwave exclaimed.

"Whatever, you know Sentinel, now I guess you gotta meet the others." She said. "Hey fellas! Get down here!" The other seven Autobots followed suit and stepped down. "Powerglide, scout and reconnaissance." She said, a short primarily red with white cylander forearms stepped forward, he had a large faceplate but you could tell from his optics that he would be wearing a cheery grin.

"Hiya! Name's Powerglide, remember me? We spoke on the monitor." Powerglide said energetically.

"I remember that annoying voice..." Prowl mumbled.

"Next up, Brawn, he's our tough guy." Moonracer stated, a short, stocky mustard yellow and jade green Autobot with a bullet shaped head stepped forward.

"Maybe, just maybe, if you bots are lucky, I can teach you a thing or two about messing with Decepticons while we're here. I'm not here for making friends, so make no mistake." Brawn said with a scowl. He was a grizzled Autobot, roughly the same age as Ironhide, he had definitely fought during the War for Cybertron.

"I like this bot." Ironhide grinned.

"Our medical officer and our engineer, First Aid and Brainstorm." Moonracer listed, two Autobots stepped forward, one was tall with an aqua blue colored body and gray wings with an orange colored helmet, the other was an Autobot with a build for a SUV type alternate mode yet still managed to look compact, he had large blue square optics and a faceplate, color wise he was much like Ratchet with primarily white with red, standard issue paint work for medical officers.

"Name's Brainstorm, you got a gizmo that needs fixing? I fix it." The aqua blue Autobot said.

"And when his fixing of your 'gizmo' blows you into a million pieces, _I_ fix _you._ " The white and red Autobot added. "I am First Aid."

"Now, our security officer, Trailbreaker, and our resident pretty-bot, Tracks." Moonracer listed. The first Autobot who stepped forward was a broad blocky Autobot with black plating, silver tube-shaped biceps and thighs and slight red details. He had a grin on his face, not a smug, cocky kind you'd see on Sentinel, but a cheery, friendly grin of a bot who just wants to go and get a cube of high grade with friends.

"Hiya fellas! Name's Trailbreaker, I've got a feeling we'll get along mighty fine." Beside him walked up a dark blue Autobot with yellow flame detailing and a smug grin on his rarely seen red colored face and white helmet. White missiles perched on a hood resting on his shoulders.

"Hi, my name is Tracks. I'm better than you." The Autobot said simply, stepping down.

"And last, but not least, our communications expert." Moonracer said. "Meet Blaster." At that moment, a tall block Aurobot slid down the ramp on his heels coolly, le lept from the ramp and landed in front of Optimus Prime. He looked similar to Soundwave, but his deployer deck was a solid color rather than a window and he actually had a face. As for colors he was mostly red with gray and a yellow deployer deck.

"What's shakin' O.P? They call me Blaster." He said with a smug, cavalier attitude, reminding the nearby human, Carly of Jazz.

"Alright you bunch of slagheaps, take your junk to your new temporary quarters, then you meet back with me to form an extraction plan." Sentinel instructed.

"Sentinel, I think if your mechs are going to be in our base, I see it only right that you and I work together in the extraction." Optimus said diplomatically.

"Your team couldn't even hold onto the Allspark, I'm not enlisting your help in taking it back." Sentinel scoffed. Optimus looked as if he were going to say something but refrained, not wanting to lose his cool. Ironhide however didn't care if he lost his cool or not.

"Now you listen here Sentinel!" Ironhide growled, shoving his way past Sentinel's team to address the commander. "I ought to rip off that stupid lookin' chin of yours and shove it so far up tour exhaust port that it'd-"

"That's enough Ironhide." Optimus said to his friend. "Sentinel is best left ignored."

"How can you listen to him blatantly disrespect you like that?" Ironhide asked.

"I know where Sunstreaker keeps his high grade." Prime chuckled.

"He knows?" Sunstreaker asked.

"Sure! I told him!" Sideswipe said.

"You fellas have high grade? I doubt it compares to my stuff, I make it from scratch, I know the perfect recipe." Trailbreaker boasted.

"He does have the best recipe I've ever tasted I'll admit." Hound stepped in. Trailbreaker looked over at the Autobot and beamed.

"Hound!" He exclaimed. "I was hoping I'd see your ugly mug again!" He chuckled running up to him and giving him a hug.

"You're calling me ugly you slagheap?" Hound joked. "What are you doing working with Sentinel?" He asked.

"He was impressed by my force field ability, the magnawheels I had installed helped to." He explained.

"You two know each other I take it?" Sunstreaker asked.

"Know each other?" Trailbreaker chuckled. "Ol' Hound and I have been pals pretty much since we rolled off the assembly line!"

"Vector Sigma, it's been at least a millacycle! We've got some catching up to do." Hound remarked.

"You're telling me, wanna crack open some of my ol' nightmare fuel?" Trailbreaker asked.

"You bet!" Hound nodded. "Hey Spike! Come and meet the bot I told you about!" He called over his human friend, Trailbreaker looked down at the small human and smiled.

"Hound always had a thing for getting chummy with the natives of different planets, hiya friend!" He knelt down to greet the human. "What'd Hound say about me? Did he tell you about that incident on Caminus? Because that was _not_ my fault." He chuckled as the three walked off. Sunstreaker and Tracks exchanged looks.

"Nice plating, wax recently?" Sunstreaker asked.

"It's how I start the day." Tracks grinned. "When was your last wax? A decacycle ago?" He chuckled.

"The humans don't have as good as the stuff on Cybertron." Sunstreaker pouted. "You didn't bring an extra canister did you?"

"I never leave Cybertron without it." Tracks grinned. "Seventy five units." Sunstreaker looked at him with a shocked expression, that was triple the price on Cybertron.

"This is extortion..." Sunstreaker mumbled as he transferred the credits to Tracks. Upon recieving the credits, Tracks pulled the canister from his subspace and tossed it to Sunstreaker, who remarked at the fact it felt lighter than whats normal. "Hey... this is half empty!"

"I like to see it as half full." He chuckled. "See ya Sunbeam."

"It's Sunstreaker." Sunstreaker muttered.

* * *

Hours later

After enough badgering from Ironhide, Sentinel finally decided to let Team Optimus have a part in the extraction, albeit as decoys. What was unbeknownst to both Team Optimus and Team Sentinel was that this encounter with the Decepticons would take a weird turn.

/Moonracer, Tracks, flank left. Brawn and Trailbreaker on right./ Sentinel commed to the group as they hid behind buildings under fire by the Decpeticons. /The rest of you with me./

"What about us?" Bumblebee asked.

"I literally could not care less what you do." Sentinel said bluntly.

"Team Optimus with me." Optimus said in reply to Sentinel's comment. "Autobots, attack!" He ordered. Optimus's crew jumped out and began firing at the Decpeticons, who had been tasked with stealing metal for the missile Shockwave was building. Sentinel's crew even began to attack after Optimus's command, not Sentinel's. Wheeljack separated from the group to fire at the incoming Decepticons in the sky, this went noticed by Skywarp who fired down on him, blasting him back. He crashed into Brainstorm who was standing behind him.

"Here, try this on for size." Brainstorm suggested to Wheeljack handing him a custom weapon. He took the gun and fired it, pinning Skywarp in the wing.

"Modified Scatter Blaster?" Wheeljack asked, remarking at the weapon.

"Yep, gave it the ability to lock onto a target, even has guided bullets." Brainstorm boasted.

"Nice touch. I woulda used a Path Blaster for those mods but to each their own." Wheeljack said as they fired. Meanwhile, looking at the battle was none other than Josie Beller, AKA Circuit Breaker, ready to finally extract revenge on the Cybertronians. Using her newly given ability to fly she forced herself to hover down to the level of the battle.

"A lot of new faces here." She remarked. "I don't remember them from the news or anything, no matter, they all are the same to me." She muttered as she shot a strong pulse at Blackarachnia, who had cornered Trailbreaker.

"Whoa! Thanks for the help friend!" Trailbreaker said cheerily to the human. Circuit Breaker looked at him with anger in her eyes.

"Friend? How dare you call me friend? I am Circuit Breaker!" She cried firing off at Trailbreaker, frying his circuitry and sending him crashing down.

"First Aid! On him now!" Heatwave yelled out to First Aid, who ran over to treat the fallen Autobot, only to get his circuits fried as well. The Autobots and Decepticons alike were taken aback by the human, who used her ability to pick up the stasis locked body of Blackarachnia and First Aid and throw them at other Transformers.

"Kill it!" Sentinel ordered.

"No Sentinel, we do not harm the humans!" Optimus hollered. Circuit Breaker laughed at what the Autobot just said.

"You don't do you? You made me who I am!" She growled, firing at Optimus and Sentinel, luckily for Optimus he was able to move in time, Sentinel however was sent crashing down. Circuit Breaker grinned and flew over to the fallen commander. She used her volts to pick him up and fly above them.

"I'll be taking this as a little trophy." She grinned. "Consider yourselves lucky I can't carry the rest." She chuckled menacingly as she flew off with the limp body of Sentinel Prime. Scrapper and the other Decepticons exchanged looks of confusion at what had just happened.

"Uhh, we've got what we need, retreat!" Scrapper said as he grabbed Blackarachnia and transformed, the other Decepticons followed suit and the group was gone, leaving the Autobots to wonder what had just happened.

"This uh... happen a lot to you guys?" Blaster asked Optimus in confusion.

"No... I've never actually encountered a human of such ability before." Optimus admitted. "But regardless, now we have both the Decepticons and this supposed Circuit Breaker to worry about."

"She can keep Sentinel for all I care." Tracks mumbled.

"Have a little respect soldier!" Brawn hollered. "Whether you like him or not he is your assigned commanding officer! And now, we've gotta rescue him. Top priority!"

"Sentinel is _not_ top priority." Ironhide rolled his optics. "The Allspark is top priority."

"I agree with Ironhide." Moonracer said, stepping forward. "Getting the Allspark back was our original mission, we need to complete that first."

"Yeah, but how much time do we really have before she disassembles Sentinel for spare parts?" Powerglide asked. "I mean, she seemed pretty miffed."

"Who cares how much time we have?" Brainstorm asked. "We don't even know where she went."

"True, but I know who does." Wheeljack said. "Teletraan One should pick up his energy readings once he snaps out of the state he's in, which should be, taking the shock he received into effect... seventy two astrocycles." (Roughly twelve earth hours).

"Providing she doesn't do some horrible thing to him before he comes online..." Heatwave said with a worried tone.

"Sentinel will be fine." Ratchet said. "In the mean time, Ironhide, give me a servo with Trailbreaker and First Aid, we have to get them back to base."

"If it's any consolation, it seems like you guys will get to stay longer than we thought." Moonracer said to Prime. "Without Sentinel, even we can't return to Cybertron."

"At least one good thing came out of this." Optimus remarked, he himself not wanting to return to Cybertron either. "Autobots, transform and roll out!" He rodered as he transformed, the other Autobots followed suit and the large group of vehicles, both earth based and Cybertronian as Sentinel's team hadn't picked out Earth forms yet rolled for base.

Two defeats in a row weren't great for Autobot morale, especially since the Autobots now had a team without their leader staying with them. But they all had to make the best of the situation for the sake of completing their tasks. It had been decided that the group would split into two groups, one group to take on Megatron and get the Allspark back, the other to rescue Sentinel. Ironhide, begrudgingly, was stuck on team "Rescue Sentinel".

"Alright, we've pinpointed Sentinel's location on Teletraan One, he seems to be just outside the city." Prowl remarked, looking at the screen. "Once your team has Sentinel, we regroup in front of Sumdac Tower then move in on Megatron. Optimus will lead team "Extraction", and Heatwave will lead team "Rescue Sentinel", any questions?" He asked the group. Before anyone could ask a question, the screen on Teletraan One blurred out and Megatron appeared on the screen, as well as every other screen across the planet.

"Hello Autobots and pitiful Earthings." Megatron grinned. "My name is Megatron, conqueror of galaxies, harbinger of destruction, soon to be ruler of this planet." He then lifted up the Allspark in his hands. "See this, the Allspark, I now possess that which the Autobots took from me all those years ago, with it, I am launching a device that upon impact of your planet will completely turn it to Cybertronian alloy! Cyberforming your vehicles and electronics to my own army, and killing you all! Nothing can stop me now! Not even you, Optimus Prime!" He laughed sinisterly. The communication kept going after the laughter stopped, Megatron looked at the screen in confusion. "Soundwave? How do I end the communication?" He asked.

"Press "end communication", Lord Megatron." Soundwave instructed out of the frame of the screen.

"Ah, yes, of course." He mumbled. "Earth will be mine!" He laughed before ending the communication. The Autobots gasped in horror at Megatron's plan, people all over the planet were in shock, especially one man. Retired military general William Fowler, as soon as the broadcast ended he lept from the chair he was reclining in and dialed the phone.

"This is Wlliam Fowler, get me President Faireborn immediately!" He said frantically. After a short wait, President Marissa Faireborn answered.

"Hello William, it's been a while." She said over the phone.

"Indeed, I take it you saw the broadcast?" He said.

"Darby, Nadaki, and Esquivel are en route to your location now." She said.

"Perfect." He sighed with relief. Only he and Faireborn knew the group that could have a chance in taking down the menacing Decepticon, and by Abe Lincoln's beard they needed them now.

 ** _To be concluded..._**


	12. Into Motion Part 3

**Author's note:** So, Megatron announced his master plan to the world, Team Sentinel is now down a leader thanks to Circuit Breaker, Starscream has now secured both Blitzwing and Quickstrike as followers, and now a top secret government intel squadron is involved? This can only end in a glorious smorgasbord of robot-on-robot-with-maybe-some-humans action.

* * *

Into Motion Part 3: Megatron's Master Plan

"Who in the pits of Kaon are you?" Sentinel said angrily as he struggled, most of his energy had been drained from him and what was left was hardly enough to keep him online. The mere chains were enough to keep him to the wall with his lack of energy.

"I already told you, I am Circuit Breaker." Circuit Breaker said as she typed at large computer screen. "Your kind takes too much of a toll on the well being of this planet, I seem to be the only one who realizes that." She explained. "I see it as my job to do where the government fails by eliminating the scourge that is your kind."

"You think I want to be here?" Sentinel Prime asked. "I'm only here because Optimus Prime is an idiot!"

"On that subject we agree, sadly it will not be enough for me to consider sparing your life." Circuit Breaker grinned. Sentinel tried to break free, but he was so low on energy it was a useless endeavor, he hardly had enough energy to keep his optics open. Whether he liked it or not, he needed help, and he needed it fast...

Back at Autobot base, the teams were just about ready to head out on their separate tasks when a dark black SUV pulled up outside the base, William Fowler stepped out and walked in through the large open doorway.

"You know, if you wanted to keep this base a secret from the Decepticons, closed doors would have been a nice touch." He remarked, catching the attention of the Autobots. Ironhide arched his brow and stomped over to the human, aiming one of the cannons on his arm at him.

"And just who are you, tiny?" Ironhide asked.

"Relax Ironhide, I'm on your side here." Fowler stated, Ironhide looked at him in surprise that he knew his name. "I am William Fowler, for years I've been leading a top secret organization that has studied your kind, you'd be quite surprised about what I know. All of your names and information for one, those documents that captain Fanzone type up also go to me. Speaking of which, it seems to appear he needs to get to work on some more, there are many of you I don't recognize." He remarked at Sentinel's team.

"That's because we got here yesterday, that human Fanzone hasn't dropped by yet." Moonracer stated.

"And with any luck, we'll be gone before the next time he does." Tracks added.

"Crying shame." Fowler remarked. "Especially since my friends were so eager to meet you."

"There are humans with an actual history with you guys?" Sari asked Bumblebee.

"Apparently." He shrugged.

"Great. More humans." Prowl grumbled.

"My sentiments exactly." Heatwave said. "The four who mill about here are too much as it is."

"Thank you!" Prowl exclaimed. "Someone finally understands."

"Optimus, I would like you to meet my team." Fowler said as three humans walked into the base, all wearing a matching black and gray uniform. The human in the center of the three was the group's leader, Jack Darby, a young soldier who had displayed a gift of leading. He stood tall with black hair, brushed so it spiked to the left. On his right stood the weapons and munitions expert of the group. Miko Nakadai, a young girl with twin buns in her hair and pink streaks in it. And to Jack's left was the intelligence officer of the group, Rafael Esquivel. A shorter human with thick glasses and fiery red hair.

"Greetings Optimus Prime." Jack stepped forward. "It's an honor to finally meet you."

"Hello." Optimus knelt down to shake hands with the soldier, using the end of his finger to shake with the human's hand.

"No offense Fowler," Ratchet stepped forward. "But I seriously doubt these humans have anything to offer in our fight against Megatron."

"What if I told you that they've taken down their fair share of Decepticons?" Fowler asked, a smirk curling up his lip.

"Yeah right, those three?" Wheeljack scoffed.

"Let me leaf through these files, see if you recognize these names." Fowler said, taking files out of a briefcase. "Blackout, Offroad, Nitro Zeus, and Krok." He listed off four Decepticons he had on file.

"Blackout was a toughy." Miko remarked.

"No. No way." Ironhide shook his head. "Let me see the headshots, there's no way you three actually took on the _real..._ " He looked at the headshots. "Well, sonuva glitch they did." He remarked.

"Lookit that, three fleshies have taken down more Decepticons than you have." Trailbreaker chuckled to Hound, knowing he'd take it in a joking way.

"Oh shut it." Hound chuckled. "So, how do you think you can help us?"

"Simple, we've been taking down Decepticons that have ended up here for fifteen years now, ever since Blackout stormed a base we were posted on." Jack explained. "We know how the Decepticons think, how they fight."

"Plus, I've got hundreds of literally the most _amazing_ weapons you've ever seen." Miko grinned.

"And thanks to our size it makes it easier to sneak around them all." Raf stated. "Smaller targets too."

"But smaller, weaker, squishier targets." Ratchet remarked.

"How many Decepticons have you guys taken down?" Miko smirked.

"Plenty, just... millions of years before your time." Ironhide said.

"From what we've squeezed out of the Decepticons we've encountered... we know you're a well respected Autobot." Raf spoke to Optimus. "It's an honor to be working with you."

"Thank you." Optimus nodded. "We look forward to your collaboration. You three will join me on the Allspark extraction team."

"Team?" Jack asked.

"Yes, the other half of us will be going to rescue our friend and then will rendez vous with us." Optimus nodded.

"Friend's a stretch." Blaster arched his brow.

"Even for me it's a stretch." Brawn nodded.

"Our _team leader,_ to rescue our team leader." Moonracer said.

"More appropriate." Heatwave nodded.

"What happened to him?" Miko asked.

"This human got him, metal strips wrapped around her skin, she could fly!" Bumblebee exclaimed. "I didn't know you humans came with super powers."

"We... don't." Folwer said. "So, now there's humans taking down Autobots?"

"Apparently so." Optimus nodded.

"Sweet Abe Lincoln's beard..." Fowler remarked. "Perhaps I'll have Miko accompany the team for the rescue."

"I think I've got a good weapon to take this chick down." Miko grinned.

"I already like her." Wheeljack remarked to Brainstorm.

"Very well. Autobots, transform and roll out!" Optimus commanded. And so the Autobots transformed. Optimus led Bumblebee, Ratchet, Trailbreaker, Skyfire, Tracks, Hound, Brawn, Sideswipe, Blaster, and Brainstorm as the group to extract the Allspark, where Heatwave led Ironhide, Moonracer, Powerglide, Sunstreaker, Prowl, Mirage, Wheeljack, and First Aid to rescue Sentinel. Wheeljack opened a door on his vehicle mode for Miko. Jack and Raf both got into Trailbreaker on Prime's team, now a black Toyota Hilux Expidition camper. The teams drove from the base and were off. Leaving Fowler alone at the base.

"Maybe I should have picked a team." He remarked, looking around. As he walked around, he heard a voice calling out.

"Hello?" The voice called, it was coming from down the hall. Fowler kept walking until he got to the room where the sound was coming from. There, he saw the Autobot soldier Jazz, sitting up in the medibay, pulling wires off of himself and talking to himself in confusion. "Hey buddy, care to tell me what's going on?" He said, noticing Fowler.

"Hello..." He quickly got out the files in his briefcase and leafed through them. "Jazz. Hello Jazz." He said. "I am special agent William Fowler."

"And... would you have any idea where all my friends are at?" Jazz asked. "I must have been out for a little while."

"Optimus has lead a crew to extract the Allspark from Megatron, who, as you can imagine, is up to no good with it." Fowler explain.

"Great, thanks tiny." Jazz grinned as he stood up. "I'm outta here." He said as he transformed.

"Wait!" Fowler exclaimed. Jazz stood in park with his engine humming.

"Yeah?" Jazz asked.

"Would you mind... taking me with you?" Fowler asked. Jazz sighed and popped open his driver's seat door.

"Get in." He instructed. Fowler sat down in the driver's seat and reached for a seat belt, only to see one wasn't there.

"You don't have a seat belt?" Fowler asked.

"Buddy, I'm a robot first, car second." Jazz said as he revved his engine and sped down the hallway and out of the base. Fowler held his gut as he clenched the handlebar on the door of Jazz's car mode, Jazz swerved through cars on the busy streets, a monitor screen flashed where the radio display would be on a normal car and a map of California popped up with red dots flashing on it.

"I'm picking up a lot of Autobot signals, way more than our team." He remarked.

"Apparently Prime called for backup." Fowler explained.

"Dang." Jazz remarked. "You know who he got?"

"I heard them talking about a mech named Sentinel." Fowler replied. "Otherwise I have no idea." Jazz scoffed and muttered to himself.

"Great, as if dealing with Mirage's and Sunstreaker's egos wasn't bad enough." He remarked. They were catching up the convoy of Autobots, he could see Prime and a few others he recognized in the group, Jazz sped up so he was driving alongside them.

"Room for one more?" Jazz asked.

"Jazz!" Bumblebee remarked. "You're okay!"

"You should be resting right now, get back to base." Ratchet said.

"No way doc, I've been out of the game for too long!" Jazz protested.

"Jazz can stay with us, but be careful." Optimus instructed.

"I'm always careful OP." Jazz chuckled.

"Except for when you jump in the fire of Megatron." Ratchet remarked.

"Can't tell you if that's ballsy or dumb." Trailbreaker remarked.

"Little bit of both." Jazz said as the pack drove. Meanwhile the team dedicated to Sentinel's rescue drove off to where they had last picked up Sentinel's signal. Prowl, Heatwave, and First Aid had activated the sirens that had came with their alternate modes to get the traffic out of their way while Powerglide flew above them.

"According to Epsilon we've only got a few more megamiles to go." Wheeljack said, a signal flashing on his inner monitor.

"Epsilon? Megamiles?" Miko asked.

"Epsilon is a personal computer I outfitted for myself, it comes in handy, kinda like a cell phone, and a megamile is a Cybertronian unit of measurement, give or take seven Earth miles in length." Wheeljack explained.

"Neat." Miko remarked.

"Slagging geek talk." Ironhide scoffed.

"You think megamile is geek talk?" Sunstreaker asked. "I take it you aren't a great bot with directions."

"Shaddup." Ironhide grumbled. "So once we get there, do we actually have a plan, Heatwave?" He asked.

"Sure we do." Heatwave said. "We're going to all turn on our signal dampeners, with the exception of Mirage."

"Why me?" Mirage asked.

"Circuit Breaker will catch your signal, but, if I'm correct, you can tun invisible, right?" Heatwave asked.

"Correct." The blue F1 racer replied.

"Well, you are going to get a jump on her, and the rest of us will wage our attack and rescue Sentinel." Heatwave said.

"Oh." Ironhide said. "Not as bad a plan as I thought."

"I could have come up with something better." Prowl muttered as the group drove. The group pulled up to the remote area in the middle of the forest in which Circuit Breaker had located herself. They all transformed and turned on their signal dampeners, hiding in various areas, all except Mirage, who was now 'alone'.

"Oh. It appears there is no energy here after all." Mirage acted, trying to lure Circuit Breaker out. "No energy? We aren't hunting for energy." He asked to Heatwave, who just mouthed for him to keep going. "I had better report to Optimus Prime that there is nothing here." The door to Circuit Breaker's lair then opened, cuing Mirage to disappear.

"Nothing to report?" Circuit Breaker asked as she hovered in the air. "How about this?" She asked before realizing there was no Autobots to be found. "But... I could have sworn that..." As she pondered to herself, Mirage fired at her from behind, pinning her down. Her outer skeleton of wiring acted as an absorption to the laser blasts, so that they weren't enough to kill her. She growled as she came at her feet, using her abilities she picked up a long abandoned car and threw it at Mirage... or where the blast came from at least, by now, Mirage had already moved. Now standing over the entrance to Circuit Breaker's lair. He made himself visible and aimed his electro disrupter at her.

"Looks like we've got something to report after all." He chuckled as Prowl and Sunstreaker stood at his sides, aiming at her.

"It's going to take a lot more that three of you to take me." Circuit Breaker growled.

"How about nine?" Ironhide asked as he and the others made themselves visible, aiming their respective blasters at her. She snarled as she readied her electronic powers. She knew however that she wouldn't be able to take nine at once, but she was ready to try. She aimed at Mirage, Prowl, and Sunstreaker as she prepared to fire, only to be fired at by Miko with a modified RPG, completely destroying the ground she stood on, and rendering her down for the count. Wheeljack and Ironhide looked at Miko with surprised facial expressions.

"What?" Miko asked. "The goal was to eliminate her, right?"

"Yeah, but... I was expected more of a fight." Wheeljack admitted.

"I like you kid. Straight to the point." Ironhide chuckled. "She dead?"

"Looks it." Wheeljack nodded. "Ever kill someone, kid?" He asked Miko.

"I'm a weapons expert." Miko replied. "Pretty dumb question."

"Come on! Let's get Sentinel!" Heatwave pleaded, so the group made their way into the lair, fortunately Sentinel wasn't hidden from them, he was the first thing the group saw when they entered. Ironhide and Prowl quickly went over and helped the Autobot down. Sentinel's optics opened and he looked around.

"Oh, hey." He said, seeing the group. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Saving your sorry skidplate." Ironhide grumbled.

"You're welcome." Prowl added as they drug Sentinel Prime out of the headquarters, the group now back out in the forest.

"How're you feeling, boss?" Powerglide asked.

"Fine." Sentinel replied. "Could use some Energon."

"Good, take this." First Aid replied as he put a shot of Energon into Sentinel's arm. Sentinel's optics glowed as the Energon coursed through him and he stretched his arms out.

"That's better." He said. "Where's Optimus?"

"Doing the job you were sent here to do." Sunstreaker grinned. "Meanwhile, we were stuck saving you."

"Alright." Sentinel said impatiently, wanting to shut Optimus' team up before they got too arrogant. "We had better catch up with them before Optimus messes everything up."

"He's always like this?" Miko asked.

"Yep." Moonracer nodded, rolling her optics. "Autobots, roll out." She ordered as she transformed.

"I'm supposed to say that." Sentinel muttered as he transformed, the rest followed suit and soon the group was on their way to rendez vous with Optimus and his team, who at the time were eyeing the Decepticon's operations, they had built a launcher in the middle of the desert, luckily the missile wasn't fully energized yet, there was still time.

"What's the plan?" Raf asked the group.

"The same thing we always do, go in, kick some aft, and take some names." Sari grinned.

"You go out on these often?" Jack asked.

"Not like we want her to." Ratchet spoke. "Usually she stows away in Bumblebee."

"Spike is just as guilty!" Sari exclaimed.

"You're right, the only ones we can trust are Carly and Chip." Skyfire remarked.

"How's Carly doin' anyway?" Jazz asked.

"She'll be ecstatic when she sees you among the online." Bumblebee said.

"Everybody quiet. We may have our signal dampeners on, but Megatron and the Decepticons still may be able to hear us." Optimus warned. Around twenty minutes of waiting later, Heatwave and the others showed up and joined them, Sentinel wedged himself between Optimus and Ratchet, grumbling to himself.

"Happy to see you in one piece." Optimus said diplomatically.

"Mhm." Sentinel nodded.

"You know, it's customary that when something is done for you, like, perhaps saving your life, one says thank you." Optimus said.

"I did." Sentinel lied.

"Sure." Ratchet said in disbelief. Down below in the clearing, things were about to heat up. Quickstrike and Blitzwing exchanged looks with Starscream, they were ready to take Megatron down. Shockwave and Scrapper laid the final pieces of plating on the missile, the shell was ready, all that was left was the cargo.

"Starscream, load the Allspark into the missile." Megatron commanded to the Seeker. Starscream grinned and armed his null rays.

"I don't think so, Megatron." Starscream chuckled. Megatron simply sighed and shook his head.

"Starscream, you _really_ think this is going to work? You against all of the Decepticons?" Megatron asked.

"Him and I." Blitzwing stepped forward.

"Make that three." Quickstrike chuckled. Megatron and his soldiers all exchanged looks and began to laugh.

"You really... expect us to take this seriously!?" Skywarp laughed.

"A dummy, a nut job, and a whack job fuzor?" Blackarachnia laughed. "Oh yeah, real scared!"

"Starscream, this is bad comedy." Megatron said before arming his fusion cannon. "The skit is over, I'm going to enjoy this."

"Now!" Optimus hollered, the group of Autobots began running down the hill they were watching from, firing at the Decepticons. Havoc erupted, the Autobots had the element of surprise and outnumbered the Decepticons, with Megatron now worried about the Autobots arriving, Starscream saw this as a good opportunity to start attacking the Decepticons on Megatron's side, quickly laying into Barricade. Blitzwing and Quickstrike followed suit, attacking the Decepticons rather than the Autobots.

"Load the Allspark!" Shockwave ordered to Thundercracker, who quickly kicked Bumblebee off of him and grabbed the Allspark, dodging fire from the Autobots.

"Trailbreaker! Tracks! Get the Allspark!" Sentinel ordered. Tracks wasn't listening however, Trailbreaker and Hound exchanged looks and did as Sentinel ordered, the two lept toward Thundercracker, stopping him in his tracks.

"You're gonna want to put that down." Hound said.

"That's right." Trailbreaker nodded.

"Oh yeah?" Thundercracker asked. "Outta my way." He ordered.

"Feel that?" Trailbreaker asked as he flexed his digits.

"Feel what?" Thundercracker asked. Hound and Trailbreaker grinned.

"I just planted a tiny force field in the center of your spark." Trailbreaker explained. "It's gradually expanding, slowly." He continued.

"As soon as he snaps his digits, it'll grow even bigger, blowing your spark up." Hound explained. "Not a good way to go."

"How do I know you aren't lying?" Thundercracker asked.

"You willing to take that risk?" Trailbreaker grinned, priming his digits in a snapping position, Thundercracker shuddered and gritted his teeth a little.

"Take it!" He shuddered, handing over the Allspark to Trailbreaker and backing away.

"And that's how you do it." Trailbreaker chuckled before being kicked in the back, sending him to the ground, Hound being shot down soon after. Quickstrike chuckled, picking up the Allspark.

"And _that's_ how you do it." Quickstrike said to himself. "Hey boss! Lookie what I found!" He hollered to Starscream, attracting not only his attention, but everyone else's. The Autobots, Decepticons, and Starscream and Blitzwing began running toward him. "Oh slag." He remarked. At this point, it was pretty much like the human game 'Capture the Flag' but with an ancient life giving artifact. Everyone had their hands on it at some point, but eventually it fell into the hands of Viewfinder, the leader of the Reflector trio, who was able to sneak out of the large battle and get the Allspark to the missile. He chuckled as he loaded the Allspark in.

"Hey Megatron! It's in!" Viewfinder hollered. The Autobots all gasped as Megatron chuckled.

"Wonderful work Reflector," Megatron walked toward the control panel. "Take a good long look at your planet earthlings. This will be the last time you see it in it's disgusting natural state."

"No!" Sentinel hollered.

"Three, two, one." Megatron grinned as he pressed the launch button. The missile fired up into the sky like that. The Decepticons cheered in victory watching it, the countdown to human extinction had officially begun, Megatron bellowed a laugh as he turned to Optimus and Sentinel.

"You're too late, Primes, in twenty earth minutes the missile will crash down and cyberform Earth!" He laughed. "Decepticons, rise up!" He said to the Decepticons, who had overpowered Starscream, Blitzwing, and Quickstrike. The soldiers took to the skies and flew off, Megatron laughing as they left the Autobots in defeat.

"Great job Optimus!" Sentinel hollered at Optimus. "I should have you and all your bots thrown in the stockade for this!"

"Sentinel, calm down." Optimus instructed.

"No! I will not calm down!" Sentinel exclaimed. "This is all your fault!"

"I didn't see you taking down Megatron!" Ironhide growled. "Come to think of it, have you ever even taken down a Decepticon before?"

"You'd better realize you're stepping out of line, soldier, before I have to shoot you back into line!" Sentinel growled at Ironhide.

"Now wait just a minute!" Jazz exclaimed. "Nobody talks to Optimus and Ironhide like that!"

"What are you gonna do, punk?" Brawn asked.

"I don't know, what are you gonna do short-stack?" Jazz asked Brawn.

"I have never met a more pedestal perched, holier-than-thou, self righteous, pain in the aft group of Autobots in my life!" Prowl exclaimed.

"Look who's talking!" Powerglide spat back. A full fledged argument began among the two teams, the only bots not participating were Optimus' engineer, Wheeljack, and Sentinel's engineer, Brainstorm. The two were busy thinking of a plan that just might save the day.

"It's a good idea, I'll give you that..." Brainstorm said among all the arguing.

"Yeah, I tend to have those." Wheeljack nodded. "Think we can make it work?"

"Probably, you've got the flux boosters?" Brainstorm asked. "We'd need the speed boost to catch up to it."

"I never leave home without them." Wheeljack nodded. "Now we'll just need the firepower." Miko cleared her throat and knocked on Wheeljack's leg.

"Perhaps I can help with that." She spoke up. "You want that missile gone? I'm your girl."

"Looks like we've got all we need, now about _this_ mess." Brainstorm remarked at the group of arguing Autobots. "HEY!" He yelled out, getting the attention of them all.

"While you were all busy passing the blame around like a combusting energon cube, we came up with a plan." Wheeljack said.

"Now everyone shut up and listen while we tell it." Brainstorm ordered before they shared the plan they came up with, the Autobots all exchanged looks as they listened, pondering whether the plan would work, as they concluded. Optimus stroked his chin and nodded.

"I like it." Optimus said. "But... it is rather risky."

"Who would go on this suicide mission anyway?" Sentinel asked.

"Oh, I would!" Wheeljack blurted out. "I live for this kind of stuff."

"So would I." Brainstorm nodded. "No offense, but the rest of you would probably find a way to ruin it by arguing."

"I get that." Jazz nodded.

"None taken." Brawn agreed. The plan was in motion, Wheeljack quickly pulled off his rocket pack, custom made, just like every other one of his gadgets and began to add the flux boosters to it. He then added another pair of boosters to the thrusters on Brainstorm's back.

"Two hundred percent speed increase." Wheeljack remarked. "This should be a piece of oil cake."

"Here." Miko said to the two bots, holding up a sack. "Modified sticky grenades, plant enough on the missile and it should blow the whole thing to bits."

"Including the Allspark..." Ratchet sighed a little, yet he knew it was better the Allspark be destroyed than the Decepticons have it and use it for evil.

"Primus-speed, Wheeljack." Skyfire saluted as Wheeljack hitched on his rocket pack.

"Best of luck Brainstorm." Moonracer nodded at Brainstorm, he and Wheeljack looked up at the smoke trail left by the rocket and nodded.

"Femmes first." Brainstorm chuckled.

"Age before beauty." Wheeljack rebuttaled.

"Just go!" Heatwave exclaimed. Wheeljack and Brainstorm lept up and ignited their thrusters, chasing after the rocket, the two flew, miles went by in moments. Soon, they were able to see the rocket not too far ahead. Now it was only five minutes until the rocket would crash down, there wasn't much time left. Brainstorm used magnetic attachments on his feet to land on the missile, Wheeljack did the same.

"You magnetized your shock absorbers too?" Brainstorm asked.

"You never forget your first modification." Wheeljack replied. "Now, let's plant some bombs." The two started planting the sticky grenades all over the missile, once they were all out of grenades Wheeljack took out the control to detonate them.

"It could be possible to save the Allspark still." Brainstorm suggested. Wheeljack looked at the oncoming city and shook his head.

"There's no time. Impact is in less than two minutes now." Wheeljack shook his head before grabbing Brainstorm's shoulder. "We've gotta go now."

"Fine..." Brainstorm sighed. "Disengaging magnetizers." He said, mere seconds later Brainstorm was swept back and began hovering in the sky, Wheeljack disengaged his thrusters and pressed the button on his remote. An explosion erupted in the sky, one with an apocalyptic force, luckily it was still miles above the ground. Bits of metal and the casing of the Allspark flew everywhere, along with blue crystal shards scattering in every direction. The missile had been destroyed, the Allspark was gone, and humanity was saved. The Autobots could see the explosion from where they watched, they crossed their digits in hope that that their friends were still okay, moments later, when they could see them flying forward they cheered and clapped, welcoming the two back. Wheeljack and Brainstorm landed and were embraced by their friends, Optimus Prime stepped up to them and congratulated them both.

"The Allspark?" He asked.

"It's... gone Prime." Wheeljack shook his head.

"Not necessarily." Prowl said. "Hundreds of new signals just came up on my sensors."

"The fragments must be still online!" Ratchet remarked. Sentinel walked up to Optimus and shuffled his feet awkwardly.

"Well... I guess there isn't an Allspark for us to take back." He said.

"No, no there isn't." Optimus shook his head.

"And Megatron and the others are still at large." Sentinel added.

"Very true." Prime nodded.

"So I guess you and your more-than-capable hands are going to stay here to do it for us?" Mirage asked.

"No..." Sentinel shook his head. "I think Optimus and you lousy mechs can handle it."

"Take it in, that's as close to nice as he gets." Moonracer added. Optimus' mechs shared a laugh before getting glares from Sentinel.

"Alright, Autobots, transform and roll out!" Optimus commanded, the large group all transformed and the humans, Miko, Jack, Raf, Fowler, and Sari all climbed in to various Autobots. The group rolled for home, all feeling glad that the battle was finally over and humanity was safe.

* * *

Two days later

"I'll tell Ultra Magnus you all are doing just fine. He may send other reinforcements anyway, but I doubt it." Sentinel said as he walked up the ramp of his crew's ship. "Contact Cybertron if you ever get into a scrape like this again, because you definitely will."

"Farewell Sentinel. Safe voyage home." Optimus nodded, the ramp closed and the ship started to life off, before they knew it, the ship was gone, heading back to Cybertron.

"That's that, huh?" Jazz asked.

"Indeed. For now, anyway." Optimus nodded.

"Wait an astroclick, where did Mirage go?" Bumblebee asked.

"Right here." Mirage said as he reappeared as if from thin air, reappearing with him were Trailbreaker, Powerglide, Tracks, and Blaster. Prowl looked at the four in shock, walking over to them.

"And just what do you think you're doing?" He asked. "I'm not about to witness four Auobots go AWOL."

"Relax dog." Blaster said. "We filed the transfer, Sentinel doesn't know yet, but he'll find out. Ol' S.P? He's not our scene, dig?"

"No respect at all from that guy!" Powerglide said. "But Optimus, you seem like a solid mech."

"We certainly hope it's okay with you Prime." Trailbreaker said. Optimus walked over, chuckling a little.

"You do know Sentinel is going to blow a gasket when he finds out." Optimus said.

"Oh yeah." Powerglide nodded. "We also know he hates Earth enough that he won't bother coming back for us."

"Point taken." Optimus nodded. "Very well, welcome to our team."

"Fanzone will be here to do your files any minute, have fun with that." Sunstreaker warned.

"Oh that's right, we have to answer to those icky little organics." Tracks moped. "Why did we do this transfer again?" The Autobots all laughed before separating to socialize, not worrying about the Decepticons one bit.

The Decepticons, meanwhile, were metaphorically licking the wounds of their defeat. Megatron sat in his throne room, sulking a little in it, holding an empty energon cube in his hand.

"Starscream... that blasted slag-head messed it all up!" He growled, throwing the cube and shattering it on the wall. He grumbled to himself as he sulked down, Rumble and Frenzy sighed as they watched their leader. They had never seen him this bitter.

"Yeah, but we got rid of him! And those other traitors too! Dumped them on that island!" Rumble said.

"Clipped their wings and took their thrusters too." Frenzy added.

"Yes, but that doesn't change the fact that the plan failed and the Autobots claimed a victory." Megatron said, sitting up in his throne."Leave me!" He ordered. As Rumble and Frenzy walked out, Shockwave walked in.

"Lord Megatron, if I may." Shockwave said.

"What. Do. You. Want." Megatron asked bitterly.

"We may have suffered a defeat, but I have already started on a new project, one that will vanquish Optimus Prime and his Autobots once and for all." Shockwave explained. Megatron's brow arched, his curiosity aroused.

"And what's that?" He asked.

"You recall during the war for Cybertron there was experiments with combination?" Shockwave replied.

"Yes?" Megatron asked. "I recall them never working as well."

"Well, now, I truly believe I have mastered it, according to the tests in my lab with my microbots." He said, holding small scale cars in his hand that then became different parts of a larger robot, four of them making arms and legs and a taller one making the torso and head. "I can upscale the technology, and with that, it will be the perfect weapon against Optimus Prime." Megatron walked up to Shockwave and looked at the miniature combiner in his hand. He grinned at the cycloptic Decepticon and laughed.

"You never fail to surprise me, Shockwave." Megatron smiled. "I want you at work on this at once."

"Of course, Lord Megatron." Shockwave nodded as he left, leaving Megatron alone. Megatron grinned as he thought of this new scheme.

"Yes..." Megatron chuckled. "Yes! Enjoy your victory now, Optimus Prime, for it will be a short one!" He laughed maniacally.

* * *

 _And so concludes this chapter of Transform and Roll Out. Will Megatron succeed in conquering Earth with new combiner technology? We'll have to wait and see..._


	13. The Swarm

**Author's note:** It has been five months since the Autobots saved Earth from Megatron's plan. There have been no signs of Megatron or his Decepticons since. What have our Autobots been up to? Let's take a look.

* * *

Chapter 13: The Swarm

"And these are my swords." Wheeljack told Miko in the midst of performing a show-and-tell type act with all his gadgets and weapons, pulling a pair of swords off his back. "Cast from the strongest metal known to Cybertron." He chuckled. "Observe." He proceeded to toss up a door to a lead vault and sliced it in two with ease.

"Impressive." The human remarked. She, Jack, and Raf had been frequently checking in on the Autobots ever since the base relocation not long after the battle with Megatron. They now had a long abandoned military base to themselves. Far more elbow room for the troops and training could be far more immersive thanks to the newfound space.

"Not too shabby if I do say so myself." Wheeljack chuckled. "I doubt Brainstorm has swords like these." He said as he continued swinging them.

"He's acting like a Sparkling." Tracks remarked as he, Sunstreaker, and Mirage watched him and Miko. "Why?"

"I think he's trying to impress the human female." Mirage said. "That's always the reason mechs act stupid."

"Not always." Sunstreaker said, looking over at his brother, Sideswipe, who was messing around with Bumblebee and Powerglide. Up to something stupid no doubt.

"First bot to the butte and back wins!" Sideswipe exclaimed to the group of young mechs.

"Ehh Sideswipe, you're a sports car, I'm a compact, and he's an fighter jet." Bumblebee said. "In no way is that fair."

"Just borrow Wheeljack's thrusters!" Sideswipe chuckled as he transformed. "See ya Bee!" He laughed, driving off.

"Joke's on him." Bumblebee smirked as he transformed. "I already did." He said, igniting the thrusters and speeding off after him.

"Wait for me!" Powerglide said as he transformed and followed behind, flying right over Hound and Trailbreaker, who chuckled watching them speed off. "And away we go!" He remarked.

"There they go." Hound chuckled.

"And to think, I was gonna ask Sideswipe to be on my lob-ball team." Trailbreaker said before the hand of a taller Autobot tapped him on the shoulder.

"I think I may join you on that game if that's alright." Skyfire smiled down at Trailbreaker.

"Perhaps I will as well." Ratchet stepped up. "I used to play in my youth on Cybertron... but I might be a little rusty." He chuckled.

"The more the merrier." Hound grinned. "Hey Ironhide! You in?" He called to the Autobot weapons officer.

"I'll pass." Ironhide said, leaning up against one of the hangars with Prowl and Optimus Prime. "Sparkling's games."

"You an' I both know you love lob-ball Ironhide." Prowl called his bluff.

"Well, yeah." Ironhide admitted. "But I haven't played since this big guy went by Orion Pax." He nudged Optimus.

"Another lie my old friend." Optimus chuckled. "I can recall multiple instances in training where you and I would toss around the ol' Pigatron Skin... _after_ I became known as Optimus Prime." He nudged Ironhide in return.

"You'd play lob-ball Optimus?" Prowl asked.

"I'm a bot just like the rest of you." Optimus stated. "You don't really think I've never made time to enjoy myself?"

"Well..." Prowl shrugged.

"Prowl was just hoping there was somebot else who never made time for fun and games." Jazz chuckled, walking over to Prime and the others, Blaster following.

"You tellin' me you've never played lob-ball, cop bot?" Blaster asked Prowl.

"I've played!" Prowl exclaimed. "I'm just not all that good." He added.

"Well, it's never too late to try somethin' new." Blaster stated. "Oh, by the way." He turned to Optimus. "Teletraan One is picking up a bunch signals."

"Decepticons?" Ironhide asked.

"Most likely." Jazz nodded. "We can't really tell what the signals are, we just know it's Cybertronian."

"Lead the way Jazz." Optimus instructed, and so the five Autobots walked into the command center where Teletraan One was located and Jazz pointed at the screen.

"As you can see, there are still many signals that have been visible since Wheeljack got the sky-spy online, but there's a cluster of new signals here." Jazz pointed to one area, he was right, there were hundreds of signals coming from such a small area, and three among the rest were multiples stronger than the rest.

"Just showed up, wonder what it is." Blaster remarked, it was at that moment the monitor started flashing and the incoming transmission alarm sounded.

/This is Optimus Prime with Autobot headquarters./ Optimus spoke into the mic.

/Spare me the formalities Prime./ It was Captain Fanzone. /I need you fellas to get down to the power plant and tell your friends not to treat it like a gosh darn buffet!/ He hollered.

"What's he talking about?" Ironhide asked.

"Wait a sec, that's where all those new signals are coming from!" Blaster remarked.

/We're on our way Fanzone./ Optimus said. /Over and out./ Optimus then rallied Ironhide, Jazz, Prowl, Blaster, Hound, Sideswipe, Tracks, Bumblebee, and Ratchet to check out the signals at the power plant. Spike, Carly, and Sari pretty much forced their respective Autobot friends to bring them along, much to Prowl and Ratchet's dismay. Upon arrival, what they found astounded them, the power plant was engulfed in a swarm of robotic insects.

"No fraggin' way..." Blaster remarked.

"Are those Insecticons?" Bumblebee asked.

"Looks that way." Ironhide said as the group of Autobots transformed into their robot modes.

"What's an Insecticon?" Carly asked.

"A sub group of Decepticon." Prowl stated. "Usually the swarms themselves are drones rather than sentient Cybertronians. Usually controlled by the head Insecticons, you get rid of those ones and the swarm goes away, saves you a lot of trouble in the end." He explained.

"They are more concerned with energy collection before conquering anything, and that's a relief considering with a nearly infinite army they could very well conquer Cybertron and beyond." Ratchet added. "Thank Primus they're stupid."

"Well... what are they doing on Earth?" Spike asked.

"Insecticons, much like Decepticons, were exiled from Cybertron after the war was won." Optimus stated. "Insecticons have incredibly strong sensing capabilities and will seek out planets high in energy resources, both natural and fabricated."

"Which in case you haven't noticed, your planet is rich with." Ironhide concluded. Just then, a compact model police car pulled up to them and Fanzone got out and slammed the door. Stomping over to Optimus Prime.

"Care to tell me what's going on here?" Fanzone asked impatiently.

"Fanzone, it appears that this plant has been infested with Insecticons." Optimus said before arming his path blaster. "A subject to change." He said simply. "Autobots, attack!" He ordered. The Autobots charged forward, aiming their weapons into the swarm and firing.

"Killing duplicates won't do much good, but it narrows down the search for the originals." Prowl stated, firing his blaster.

"Consider your search ended, Autobot scum!" A raspy voice bellowed as one Insecticon leaped from the cooling tower with two others following. All three of them shared a similar color scheme, primarily black with purple, yellow, and gray through out their bodies. The one leading them was a stocky build with a vented gray faceplate and a small cannon mounted on his head. This was Bombshell, the leader of the Insecticon trio. To his right stood Shrapnel, an average build Insecticon with large metallic pincers on his back and a rarely seen silver colored visor, and to Bombshell's left was Kickback, a slender Insecticon with long silver organic insect shaped wings on his shoulders. Each Insecticon had a special ability other than cloning. For Bombshell, he could use the mounted turret on his head to fire cerebro-shells, little implants that gave Bombshell access to control the mind of whatever they latched to. Shrapnel had the ability to harness the power from lightning or other electric sources to use it's power against his enemies. As for Kickback, he had the power to... well... kick. Like his name implies.

"I am Bombshell, leader of the Insecticons." Bombshell hissed.

"We're here to scrounge the Earth of it's resources." Kickback stated.

"Retreat or be terminated _terminated._ " Shrapnel hissed, a verbal tick causing him to repeat the last word of each sentence he says.

"We'll just see who gets terminated, bug." Sideswipe smirked.

"Yeah! You're the insects, and we're the... the insect killers." Bumblebee tried to be threatening.

"He meant exterminators." Ironhide said. "Something we're gonna be going a lot of." He smirked, arming his large cannons.

"I'd like to see you try, Red." Kickback snickered, leaping at Ironhide and kicking him with excessive force, what truly surprised the Autobots was just how much the kick impacted on Irronhide, this Insecticon, no taller than Bumblebee, was able to send Ironhide flying back and crashed right into a control building of the plant, the Autobots all exchanged glances in surprise then back at the Insecticons.

"Insecticlones, attack!" Bombshell called out, suddenly, the swarm attacking the plant shifted attention and quickly focused on the group of Autobots, the original three disappeared behind the swarm with a laugh.

"What do we do, Optimus?" Bumblebee asked as the group fired at the approaching Insecticon clones.

"Make our way through the hoard, then squash some bugs." Optimus instructed.

"He is _so_ cool when he says stuff like that." Sideswipe remarked with a large grin.

"Less swooning, more shooting." Prowl instructed. The ten Autobots fired through the advancing hoard. Insecticons by the hundreds left and right.

"Anyone else wish we brought that Trailbreaker guy along?" Ironhide remarked. "We sure could use a force field around us right about now." He stated as he grabbed a clone of Kickback and a clone of Bombshell and slammed their heads together, tossing the two aside.

"Tell me about it." Jazz nodded. "On your left 'Bee." He told the scout as he grabbed the large metal pincers of a Shrapnel clone and tied them together. Above, the three Insecticons laughed as they watched the group of Autobots struggle.

"Quite a sight, eh Bombshell?" Kickback asked.

"I'm disappointed, I expected more from the great _Optimus Prime_." Bombshell remarked.

"Careful what you wish for Bombshell _Bombshell._ " Shrapnel stated. "He's probably just warming up _up._ "

"And what's the excuse for the other Autobots he brought along?" Bombshell laughed. Down bellow, Tracks glanced up and saw the three Insecticons from their watch tower. He didn't have the range on his blaster to get them from where he was, but if he could just get a little closer...

"Hound! Blaster! Cover me!" Tracks called to the two, the two Autobots nodded and stood to his sides as he made his way to a clear area, avoiding detection of the swarm. "Wheeljack, if your 'flying car' mode doesn't work, I'm going to tear you a new energizer as soon as we get back." He mumbled as he transformed. Once in car mode, the once decorative white wings featured in his robot mode came out from the underside of his alternate mode and he took flight. He flew up toward the ledge the original Insecticons watched the fight, luckily going unnoticed by the three Insecticons. He transformed and balanced on a fire escape on the tower, not comfortably of course since it was meant for beings fractions of his size. He sneaked along the tower and eventually got to the same deck the Insecticons were on.

"I still can't believe _we_ lost the war to _them._ " Kickback remarked, watching the fight.

"Megatron lost the war to them." Bombshell hissed. "I intend to fix where there was an error."

"We, you mean, we, right Bombshell _Bombshell_?" Shrapnel asked.

"Yeah. Sure, whatever." Bombshell replied. Tracks smirked and cocked his blaster, walking up behind them.

"You? Fix where Megatron made error?" Tracks scoffed, getting their attention. "You couldn't fix where a Build-team Micromaster erred." He remarked, aiming his gun directly at Bombshell. "Come quietly or get scrapped."

"How about we _don't_ come quietly, and _you_ get scrapped!" Bombshell exclaimed, leaping forward. "Die, Autobot!" Tracks stepped to the side and let Bombshell crash down, grumbling in frustration.

"You're too slow." Tracks chuckled.

"Well maybe you'll get a kick out of this!" Kickback smirked before transforming into his alternate mode, a large robotic grasshopper. The metallic insect jumped forward at Tracks and kicked him back over the guard rail of the watch deck. as he fell, he transformed into his car mode and used the flight mode to get back up.

"Miss me?" Tracks chuckled as he transformed and landed. / _Warning. Not enough energon to utilize flight_ _mode._ / His inner computer warned him. "I guess I'll have to be more careful from here on in. A rather shocking development." He remarked.

"How's this for a shocking development _d_ _evelopment_?" Shrapnel exclaimed as the large silver pincers on his back charged up and he fired a large blast of electricity at Tracks, who thought fast and deflected the blast with Bombshell. He tossed the Insecticon aside and walked closer to Shrapnel, arming the twin rockets on each side of the canopy over his head.

"Perhaps you'll get a blast out of..." He stopped himself. "No, no I'm sick of the wordplay." He muttered. "Eat rocket, Insecticon creep." He said before firing both rockets at Shrapnel, blasting him back with a kick stronger than Kickback could dream of.

"AAAAEEIIIIII!" Shrapnel cried out as he fell from the tower, crashing down to the ground. Upon impact, one entire third of the swarm disappeared. The Autobots below noticed this and cheered on Tracks for his accomplishment, as if his ego needed any more feeding.

"Just wait until Sunstreaker and Mirage hear about this." Tracks chuckled. Bombshell growled as he got to his feet and slapped Kickback in the back of the helmet.

"Go see to Shrapnel!" He ordered. "I'll take care of this Autobot pest." He barked at Kickback, who nodded and lept down from the watch deck to see to his Insecticon brother. "Alright Autobot, you might be able to take me down, but try taking this down!" He snarled. /Insecticlone BS23, plant a cerebro-shell on the big red Autobot!/ He ordered through his com link to one of the clones, referring to Blaster, who was in the midst of fighting said clone.

"You're an ugly little sucker, even for a Decepticon." Blaster chuckled as he fought the clone. The Insecticon snarled and transformed into it's alternate mode, resembling a large rhinoceros beetle. Once in it's alternate mode the Insecticon followed it's orders and fired a shell from the horn of it's beetle mode. The shell connected with Blaster's head and sent a jolt through his body. He was now under Bombshell's control.

"Alright slave, let's see what you can do..." Bombshell stated, a visual on Blaster's point of view appearing in his processor. Down below, Blaster twitched a little and stood still, like a statue. Jazz noticed this and went over to him as he fired at Insecticon clones.

"Blaster, you okay bud?" He asked.

"I'm fine, Autotwerp!" Blaster snarled as he kicked Jazz down. He broke formation from the Autobots and began to scale the watch tower Tracks was on, at this point, Bombshell had vacated to another area away from Tracks. Optimus turned and saw Blaster climbing the building and scratched his helmet.

"What on Cybertron is Blaster doing?" He asked. "Blaster! Return to the group now!" He called.

"Get slagged Prime!" Bombshell spoke through Blaster's body as he continued the climb. The Autobot puppeteered by Bombshell climbed the rest of the way up the tower to where Tracks was. Tracks noticed this and turned around to greet his comrade.

"Blaster! Nice to see you, sorry to tell you I beat you to the punch though, Shrapnel's down for the count and Kickback is off with him, that third one though..." Tracks pondered, but "Blaster" wasn't listening, with a growl, the Autobot communications officer made a fist and laid a hard uppercut to Tracks, catching the warrior off guard and nearly sending him off the tower. Tracks stumbled to his feet and looked at his fellow Autobot in shock. "Blaster? What was that for!?" He asked.

"Blaster's not here, Autobot." Bombshell spoke through Blaster. "It is I, Bombshell!" He laughed. "Now, you have two choices, destroy your comrade and win, or die!" He laughed through Blaster as he fired at Tracks with his rifle. Down below, the Autobots watched Blaster's body fight Tracks as they took cover from the Insecticon clones.

"What in the frag is Blaster's malfunction!?" Ironhide exclaimed.

"Maybe he just doesn't really like Tracks for some reason?" Sari asked. "I mean, he is kinda snobby."

"Tracks and Blaster were on a team together for eons before they joined us, if he had a problem with Tracks he would have already made that clear, besides, Blaster likes everyone." Ratchet remarked. "Something must be wrong with him, I mean, he did attack Jazz too."

"He also told Prime to get fragged, whatever that means." Bumblebee remarked.

"Don't say that word, Bumblebee." Prowl said sternly.

"But Ironhide said it!" Bumblebee whined. "I never get to do anything." He pouted.

"That's the spirit kid." Ratchet mumbled sarcastically. "Wait, if I could get up there, I could try and see what's going on with Blaster."

"Ironhide and I will cover you Ratchet." Optimus stated. "The rest of you, keep firing at the Insecticons, Prowl, try and see if you can nail Kickback."

"Nail must mean something different to these guys." Spike remarked as Sari laughed, getting looks from the Autobots, Prime sighed and turned to Prowl.

"You know what I meant." He said flatly. "Autobots, attack!" He commanded. Prowl transformed and drove through the horde, trying to find Kickback. Bumblebee, Jazz, Hound, and Sideswipe kept firing at the Insecticon armada while Prime and Ironhide surrounded Ratchet, making his way to the tower. Ratchet looked up at the climb and sighed.

"Why'd Wheeljack just give Tracks the ability to fly?" He remarked.

"I could always give you a boost, if you know what I mean." Ironhide grinned, referring to an old tactic they used millions of years ago, back on Cybertron. Ratchet looked at the roof of the tower and sighed, it was probably the best way to get up there, time was precious in this case, knowing Tracks would not stand a chance against Blaster, being nearly half Blaster's size.

"Fine, let's do it." Ratchet sighed. Ironhide grinned and before Ratchet knew it, Ironhide held Ratchet up in his ambulance mode, ready to throw.

"Ready?" Ironhide asked.

"Hardly." Ratchet stated. But that was good enough for Ironhide, with a heavy grunt, he lobbed Ratchet up high in the air, easily reaching the height of the building, once roughly twenty feet above the watch deck, Ratchet transformed into robot mode and landed, just in time to have Tracks thrown into him by Blaster. "Nice running into you here." The medic joked.

"What's up, doc?" Tracks asked, getting to his feet. "C'mon Blaster, I don't want to hurt you..." He said, ready to fire his blaster.

"What's the matter with him, Tracks?" Ratchet asked, joining him.

"Apparently Bombshell planted a mind control shell on him, now he's doing whatever Bombshell wants." Tracks explained. "Any suggestions for how I could get him to snap out of it would be nice, field mech." He stated.

"I haven't been a field mech since the War for Cybertron, I'm a medical officer now." Ratchet corrected. "And don't worry, I've dealt with these kinds of things before. I just need to find some way to get him to stay still." He stated, dodging fire from Blaster.

"Medic builds come with EMP generators, right? Use that to put him in stasis!" Tracks suggested.

"Medic build that were built a million years after I rolled off the assembly line do." Ratchet stated. "The first wave of medic builds were pretty much warrior build with a new paint job!"

"So that explains why you look just like Ironhide." Tracks remarked.

"Yes. I'm glad we got that figured out." Ratchet said sarcastically. "I've got one idea, we knock Blaster off the building."

"What!?" Tracks exclaimed. "He may be under mind control, but he's still one of us."

"The fall wouldn't kill him!" Ratchet replied. "It would be enough to knock the wind out of him... so to speak. That way, I'd be able to work at getting the cerebro-shell off." He explained.

"It's worth a shot." Tracks nodded. "Charge on three."

"One... two..." Ratchet counted down.

"Three!" Blaster growled, who charged at them, ready to knock _them_ off the watch deck. Thinking fast, Tracks and Ratchet dodged the blow, but Bombshell didn't react quick enough to turn Blaster around, causing the Autobot puppet to fall to the ground with a crash.

"I'll make my way down to see to Blaster." Ratchet said. "You look for Bombshell." He instructed Tracks as Ratchet began the descend down the building. Bombshell growled in agony as he tried to reach Blaster through the cerebro-shell, but the crash had knocked the bot into a stasis.

"Blast!" Bombshell snarled. "Okay Autobot, maybe you'll fancy this instead." He grumbled. /All Insecticon clones, target Autobot Tracks!/ He ordered, and the Insecticon swarm of Bombshell clones charged toward Tracks. Kickback clones were nowhere to be accounted for as Prowl had manage to take Kickback down as well, but this was still an Insecticon fleet after one singular Autobot.

"They're gonna tear him limb from limb!" Bumblebee exclaimed, watching what was happening.

"We've gotta get up there and help him!" Jazz said.

"How? It'd take too long to climb up there, he'd be a million shards or frame metal by the time we got there." Prowl noted.

"We can't stand by and do nothing." Optimus remarked. "Autobots, begin the ascend. Sari, Spike, and Carly, stay with Captain Fanzone." He ordered the three humans. Spike and Carly obeyed without question but Sari protested.

"What? No fair! I wanna fight Decepticons too!" She whined.

"Do what Big Red says or I'll have to lock you in the drunk tank with the other disorderly dames." Fanzone ordered. "And I hear that Mikeala Banes chick snuck a knife in there with her, now _she's_ nuts." He remarked.

"Best do what Captain Fanzone says." Spike said. "She stabbed my cousin Buster in the gut, he almost didn't make it."

The Autobots began the ascend, firing at members of the swarm they could get a clear shot at, making haste so as to get to their comrade quickly. Their comrade in question had saught refuge within the command room on the watch deck, it was a tight fit considering he was fifteen feet tall in a room with a ten foot high ceiling.

"I'm behind a wall of bullet proof glass." Tracks called out to the swarm with a smirk. "Do your worst." He grinned as he uttered words he would regret mere seconds later. Bullet proof glass does not an Insecticon proof refuge make. The swarm broke through with ease and attacked Tracks, even with his missiles being able to take out two Insecticons at a time, he was still desperately outgunned.

"Not so tough now, eh Autobot?" Bombshell's voice rang through the swarm. "It's a shame you won't be able to walk away with a lesson learned." His voice echoed with a laugh. Bombshell watched the swarm attack and the Autobots climb from one of the cooling towers, Kickback and Shrapnel promptly joining him.

"Shrapnel's up and kicking again boss." Kickback informed him.

"Brilliant, now add your Insecticlones to my armada!" Bombshell ordered.

"No can do _do._ " Shrapnel replied glumly. "My clone generator is still offline _offline_."

"And that Autobot Prowl damaged mine when he attacked me." Kickback said. "Me! He specifically saught me out. Who just does that? He's twice my size!"

"Excuses excuses." Bombshell grumbled. "Whatever, at least you two can watch _my_ clones take out that Autobot!"

"Not likely, Decepticon." A new voice uttered from behind the trio, they turned and saw two figures, momentarily anyway. The taller one of the two quickly transformed and rammed down Shrapnel in his alternate mode, plowing the poor Insecticon off the cooling tower.

" _Why meeeee!_?" Shrapnel cried out before crashing to the ground. Kickback had forgot to mention Shrapnel's flight capability was still offline as well.

"What in the- Who are you!?" Bombshell snarled at the other one, a scout sized mech.

"Your worst nightmare." The scout chuckled as an array of weapons came out of his arms, shoulders, chest even. He fired them all off at Kickback and Bombshell, laughing in amusement.

"Who on Cybertron are they!?" Sideswipe asked, looking up at the cooling towers.

"Someone on our side I guess." Prowl remarked. On the cooling towers, the scout sized bot was able to make short work of both Bombshell and Kickback, he chuckled as the weapons hid back in the compartments on the Autobot.

"Nice work." The Autobot warrior build mech complimented the scout sized Autobot. "Now let's roll." He stated. Tracks reemerged from the command center, beaten, smashed up, and riddled with bullet holes, he was astounded, what had just happened? He looked and saw the two Autobots on the cooling tower with Bombshell and Kickback down for the count. Quickly, he transformed into car mode and ignited his flight mode rockets.

/ _Warning. Not enough energon to utilize flight mode._ / Tracks' computer stated as the rockets turned off in mid air.

"Wait!" Tracks exclaimed as he transformed and fell from the sky, crashing down to the ground.

/ _System damaged. Going into temporary stasis._ / Was the last thing Tracks heard before his inner workings shut off and he went into stasis. He awoke not long after with Ratchet, Prowl, and Optimus looking over him.

"Better not look in a mirror kid." Ratchet remarked. "You would not like what you'd see." He chuckled.

"You did pretty good up there, held your own better than I thought you would." Prowl commended Tracks, Tracks said nothing. He got to his feet and started climbing a ladder on the cooling tower, hoping the mysterious Autobots would still be there, once he got there... they were gone.

"They vanished not long after you crashed down." Optimus spoke up from behind him, having ascended behind Tracks. "Whoever they are, I would be quite grateful they arrived when they did." He noted. "Tracks, let's roll out." He stated before descending back to the ground where the Autobots waited.

"Yeah... thanks." Tracks mumbled to himself. "Whoever you are." He remarked before descending with the others and rolling for home.

That night, Bombshell, Kickback, and Shrapnel walked nervously down the hallways of Decepticon headquarters to Megatron's throne room. Skywarp and Thundercracker stopped them at the door. "How'd it go?" Skywarp asked Bombshell.

"We don't want to talk about it." Bombshell grumbled.

"Well, we certainly don't envy you." Thundercracker remarked. "Have fun, he's been in a pretty bad mood since he lost the Allspark anyway, I doubt this failure will better his mood."

"No slag, Sherlock." Kickback grumbled.

"Proceed." Skywarp droned, opening the door. The three walked in to see Megatron sitting at his throne, it had been adorned with the wings of Starscream and Blitzwing as a decoration and a reminder not to cross Megatron ever since Starscream's attempted mutiny.

"Ahh, Bombshell, Kickback, Shrapnel. How did your mission go?" Megatron asked, standing up from his throne and descending the stairs in front of it. "You must have already dropped the energon off in the storage chamber, as I see none of it now." He remarked.

"Uhh... yeah!" Kickback nodded. "Yep! That's what we did!"

"That's what happened, Lord Megatron _Megatron._ " Shrapnel nodded.

"We wouldn't want to inconvenience you with the trial of sorting through it all, so we placed the burden upon Rumble and Frenzy." Bombshell stated. "And Reflector of course."

" _Riiiight_." Megatron nodded. "Very well. Go, leave me be." He shooed them off. The three Insecticons grinned, well, Kickback and Shrapnel did. Bombshell didn't have a mouth to grin with. The trio scampered off quickly, ecstatic that Kickback's lie worked.

"You're aware they were lying, right?" Barricade asked Megatron, leaning up against the stairwell to Megatron's throne.

"Of course I am." Megatron nodded. "The Insecticons have been nothing but useless since they got here, this was merely done to get them out of the base while Shockwave and Scrapper got work done."

"And whatever they come up with will help us defeat the Autobots?" Blackarachnia asked, hanging upside down from the ceiling in her robotic spider mode.

"When the Autobots see what they've created, they won't know what hit them..." Megatron said before chuckling maniacally.

Meanwhile, on an island in the middle of the ocean, Starscream sat idly on the beach of the island in his fighter jet mode, stripped of wings. Quickstrike and Blitzwing worked at attaching impromptu wings fabricated from what they could find on the island.

"Yer all set boss, give it a go!" Quickstrike exclaimed. Starscream engaged his thrusters and went forward, he gradually made his way into the air, laughing in triumph, that moment of triumph was fleeting however, as one of the wings burnt up from the exhaust in mere seconds and Starscream crashed into the ocean.

"Uh oh." Bliztwing remarked, watching the crash.

"I... I think that was the wing you made." Quickstrike spoke up.

"Vas not! You made ze left ving!" Blitzwing remarked, switching to his angrier, more violent face. As the two bickered, Starscream emerged from the water and drudged onshore, seaweed hanging from his body and the wing that had not burnt up dangling, broken from Starscream transforming.

"Starscream! Guten tag!" Blitzwing chuckled.

"Sure, attempt three hundred ninety four was a bust, but I'm sure three hundred ninety five will be when we strike gold!" Quickstrike spoke up to the Seeker commander, who said nothing and walked past them, he yelled out a loud and angry scream and fired his arm mounted blasters at a nearby rock formation.

"We're losing energon by the solarcycle on this stupid island!" Starscream hollered. "And I'm going to die surrounded by morons!" He whined, firing once more at the rock formation, blasting out the entire wall of it. Once the dust cleared, Starscream noticed something, there was something metal buried in the rock! Starscream approached the metal and rubbed in, this was Cybertronain alloy. That means this was a Cybertronian ship! Starscream cocked his head and knocked on the wall.

"Die cast metal..." He remarked.

"It's a lost art, huh boss?" Quickstrike remarked. Starscream fired his cannons at the ship and blew a hole through the ship's wall.

"Blitzwing, Quickstrike, come inside." Starscream commanded as he entered the hole. "Chances are the security features are long deactivated." The two Decepticons obeyed their leader's command and stepped inside, the ship was dark and dingy, cobwebs hung from the walls and a thick layer of dust had covered everything. Stascream approached what he assumed to be the command console and stoked it, brushing dust off of it, he could make out a Decepticon insignia on the keyboard, meaning the ship was Decepticon property.

"It's a Decepticon ship, but there seems to be no sign of a crew..." Starscream stroked his chin.

"Starscream," Starscream heard Blitzwing call out. "Vhat are zese?" Starscream found Blitzwing standing in front of five large tubes with reflective glass. They were stasis pods. It now made sense to Starscream why there was no crew to be seen.

"Stasis pods, meaning that the crew could in fact could be still online." Starscream remarked with a grin. "Yes... this bodes well for me." He grinned. "Blitzwing, Quickstrike, scrounge the ship for spare parts. I have some allies to set free." He ordered. Perhaps Starscream had just found his true brigade after all...


	14. Make Tracks

**Author's note:** Just because the name of the chapter is a copy/paste from a G1 episode doesn't mean the chapter will be too. But it more or less will be, but different, it's also got some of _Speed Metal_ from Prime in there, with a little bit of _Velocity_ from Animated. just wait and see.

* * *

Chapter 14: Make Tracks

Nobody could quite understand it, who were those Cybertronians? It was a question that every Autobot who was at the power plant had on their mind, Tracks especially. It was the only thing he had thought about since the encounter with the Insecticons. Sunstreaker and Mirage told him he was too interested in these Autobots, if they were Autobots that is. For weeks Tracks stalked around the city, looking for a sign of them, and he had narrowed it down to one spot that he knew for sure he'd find one of them. Every Saturday night at ten o'clock there would be a street race on the east end of the city, and one of the two was there every week, he had been watching, and this week was the week he'd finally get him, which would effectively lead him to the other.

"I still think it's a stupid endeavor." Sunstreaker told him as he, Mirage, and Tracks waxed in the hangar that was converted into a washing and refurbishing room. "If these guys have been here for any time at all they already know about us, and if they haven't contacted us yet, they clearly don't want to."

"It's not about getting them to join us." Tracks told Sunstreaker. "It's about finding out who they are, what they're doing here, why they saved our afts at the power plant."

"You can't just let sleeping robodogs lie, can you?" Mirage remarked.

"I just can't believe you two don't care." Tracks replied.

"Of course I don't care, for one, I wasn't there." Sunstreaker said.

"That, and " _As The Kitchen Sinks_ " is on tonight, they're doing a marathon leading up the premiere of the new season." Mirage added.

"But Tracks... listen, you're our friend." Sunstreaker said. "So I guess that it's only right that we DVR the premiere for you to watch when you get back."

"Thanks fellas." Tracks chuckled, he knew they weren't going to come along, but he did appreciate that they'd record the episode, those three loved their soaps.

Not long after, it was time for Tracks to hit the streets, the plan was to sneak into the race, catch up to the mysterious Cybertronian, try to get him off course, and then interrogate him. Hopefully nothing would go wrong.

The race took place on the flat part on an under-bridge sewer canal, a disgusting place in Track's mind, but the race didn't involve actually going into the water, lucky for him. Once Tracks arrived at the location the race was starting, he hid behind a support beam for the bridge and watched, he was still early, the race hadn't started yet. He scanned the cars, none of them matched the Autobot, though he was picking up two signals. "Time for me to blend in." Tracks remarked as he transformed into a shiny metallic blue 2018 Corvette Stingray to watch the race begin and hopefully sneak in once it started, however, a wrench was about to be thrown into his plans, that wrench in question was down by the starting line.

"Listen, if I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, no car? No race." An African American human said, shoving back a young and skinny Hispanic man back. "Raoul, look, you've got spunk, but you ain't got a car, and I care more about the car than the spunk."

"C'mon Bobby," Raoul pleaded. "Don't you run a used car lot? You could let me use a car for the night, and I'd buy it from you with my winnings from the race when I win!"

"None of the cars in my lot would be good for racing." Bobby remarked. "And what do you mean, 'when you win'? I don't think I've ever seen you behind the wheel before, do you even have a license kid?" He asked with a laugh, watching Raoul turn away and leave with his head hanging, this had been the seventh week in a row he had tried to get into the race, and every week it was the same thing.

"Where does he think I'd get the coin to get a car to race?" Raoul asked himself as he walked. "I bet half the racers don't legally own the cars they race in." He muttered. Just then, he passed something, or someone, he had just walked by Tracks, sitting idly in his alternate mode.

"Keep walking, kid..." Tracks muttered to himself. Raoul walked over to the Autobot and stroked the hood.

"Now who would just leave a fancy sports car like you lying around?" Raoul remarked. "You certainly don't belong to anyone I know." And that's when Raoul had an idea, not a good idea morally, but a good idea to get into the race. He chuckled to himself as he walked up to the door of the car. Just as he went to open the door, Tracks quickly turned the lock on his doors to make sure he couldn't get in. "Huh?" Raoul cocked his head. "Oh well. Like I've never picked a car lock before." He chuckled, in mere seconds he popped open the door of the car and climbed in. "Now what the hell kind of car is this?" Raoul remarked at the digital monitor screen and the array of buttons that did not match that of a regular car. He looked down at the pedals on the floor of the car and he pressed the gas, at the command of the pedal, Tracks drove forward.

"Curse these controlling alternate modes." Tracks muttered to himself as Raoul drove forward in him. To not blow his cover, Tracks kept quiet, hoping that this kid wouldn't damage him too bad. Raoul pulled up to the starting line and rolled down the heavily tinted window to reveal himself to Bobby.

"What was this about 'No car, no race.'?" Raoul chuckled to Bobby.

"Where'd you get this beauty?" Bobby asked. "You know what, I don't care, you got the entry fee?"

"I think I've got it, been saving for a while now." Raoul stated. "What's it, two hundred and fifty?"

"For a first time racer? Let's say two hundred twenty five." Bobby said with a grin, Raoul nodded and handed him a wad of money. "You start off at the slot for twelfth, fist timer." Bobby stated, pointing to a spot.

"You got it." Raoul nodded. He parked Tracks at the spot sixth place racers start and waited for the other racers. Tracks spied two signals, none of them matched that of the Autobot he was looking for and no cars nearby resembled the alternate mode of the Autobot.

"Well then... what are the other signals?" Tracks asked himself quietly. Not long after, Bobby, the man Raoul had dealt with earlier, stepped in front of the group of cars, now up to twelve. He called for the drivers to roll their windows down to hear the announcement.

"Alright folks, welcome to Bobby Bolivia's Street Race!" He said. "We've got a new racer joining us tonight, Raoul! Though you all probably recognize him as that kid who always tries to worm his way into the race. Looks like he finally got in!" He chuckled. "Let's see if he's any match for our running champ, Auggie Cahnay. Not likely." He remarked. "Alright folks, on your mark... get set... go!" He waved them off, the twelve cars sped off. Tracks had no interest in winning the race, but he was interested in catching that Autobot. Who from the looks of his scanners was nowhere to be found that night.

"Perfect, the one time I actually go to this thing and he's not even there!" Tracks grumbled, not bothering to keep it down, Raoul heard him talk and jolted up in shock.

"What in the... a talking car?" Raoul remarked. "Wait a sec, you're one of those Autodroids I've been hearing so much about!" He exclaimed.

"That's Autobot." Tracks corrected him. "And you should be lucky that I'm an Autobot, you didn't even think for a microsecond that I was a Decepticon."

"Man, those Decepticons are always fighter jets or robot spiders or somethin', there's like one car an' he's a cop car." Raoul explained. "Besides, you're that blue Autobot, right? You were on the news not too long ago. That power plant attack."

"Not my finest moment." Tracks muttered. Just then, headlights shone from along the ridge and a car sped down from it, a car that matched just what Tracks was looking for. The car joined the race and swerved into the pack, seemingly unnoticed from every other racer except Tracks. "Now we're talking!" Tracks exclaimed, speeding up.

"Whoa!" Raoul exclaimed, being tossed back by the sudden increase in speed. "What's going on?"

"I was here to seek out a certain Autobot I encountered, he's been taking part in these races for weeks now. I was worried he wasn't going to show tonight." Tracks explained. "I seem to have been wrong, one of the few instances I can say that happily."

"Oh yeah, that guy." Raoul nodded. "He's been racing here for a while. He always gives Auggie a run for his money but never seems to snag first place."

"You know a lot about these races." Tracks noticed.

"I've been wanting to take part for a long time now, just my luck that my first shot in I'm actually intruding on an Autobot mission." Raoul remarked.

"This isn't an Autobot mission, it's more of a personal mission." Tracks stated. "Just _my_ luck that when I finally decide to embark on the mission I get hijacked by some kid with NASCAR dreams." He remarked, partially mocking Raoul. "Look kid, robot car trumps human. But when I nail this 'bot there will be plenty of other races and plenty of other cars to steal."

"Why couldn't I have hijacked that red Lamborghini? He seems nicer from what I've seen on the news." Raoul muttered.

"He's also a grade A numskull, trust me, I'm friends with his brother." Tracks replied. "Now keep quiet, you're making me lose concentration."

"A'ight, whatever man." Raoul sighed, leaning back in the seat. Tracks sped up, catching up to the Autobot signal, and also, the other two signals he was picking up earlier, but foolishly he only focused on the signal he was after. Those other two signals soon noticed Tracks near them. These signals? The signals belonged to two cars in the race, a white 2018 Lamborghini Aventador with red and blue accents, and a gunmetal gray 2018 Ferrari 488. Both deadly...

/Geez, Wildrider? Looks like we've got not one, but two Autobot signals here now!/ the Lamborghini commed to the Ferrari.

/So what? Shockwave an' Scrapper didn't make us outta tin foil, we can take whatever they dish out, just the two of us./ Wildrider commed back.

/Maybe we should contact the others... what if the signal is the weapons expert! Or the leader! Or... or the spunky little compact!/ Breakdown panicked.

/You dimwitted dolt!/ Wildrider scoffed. /It's the blue sports car, nothing but one of the pretty boy soldiers./

/ _What!?_ / Breakdown gasped. /But... but that's the one with giant rockets on his hood! We're fragged, man, we're SO fragged!/

/By Unicron's beard you're insufferable!/ Wildrider growled. /Look, want proof we can handle him? I'll do it right now./ He sighed as out of a compartment on the side of his alternate mode a small saw emerged, Wildrider eased closer to Tracks and Raoul. The saw spun and spun as he got closer to Tracks' tire. It made contact and popped the tire, causing Tracks to suddenly lost control and swerve about.

"Gah! Blast your planet's primitive vehicular technology!" Tracks exclaimed as he spun about.

"Oh, I suppose you were some kind of hover-car back on Cybertron?" Raoul arched his brow.

"As a matter of fact I was." Tracks replied. "No matter." He sighed, wings emerging from the bottom of his car mode and his wheels folding in. "Hang on to your bobby socks!" He said as he took to flight, catching up with the group of racers.

"Whoa, you can fly!" Raoul remarked.

"Really? I couldn't tell." Tracks replied with a bitter tone of sarcasm.

"Easy on the sarcasm, Lightning McQueen." Raoul muttered as Tracks flew. Down below, Wildrider and Breakdown noticed Tracks flying overhead.

/Oh man! That Autobot is still hot on our tails man!/ Breakdown wailed.

/So?/ Wildrider asked.

/He's gonna frag us man! He's gonna frag us!/ Breakdown whined. /Or he's gonna bring us back to his base and him and all his friends will frag us!/ Wildrider growled angrily and slammed his brakes on, letting the rest of the racers speed on ahead, Breakdown did the same and the two transformed. Raoul looked out the window of Tracks and saw the two standing there.

"Hey Tracks, either one of those the guy you're after?" He pointed downward.

"No... the signal is speeding on ahead. If it's not him, those must be the other signals I was picking up." Tracks remarked. "And they appear to be Decepticon!" He exclaimed, noticing the insignia on Wildrider's chest.

"Now Breakdown, blast him!" Wildrider hollered. The two Decepticons aimed their blasters and fired up at Tracks, who frantically swerved and dodged fore in the sky. Realizing the Autobot signal had to wait, Tracks descended and transformed to robot mode, setting Raoul on the ground easily.

"Find some place to hide, this could get messy." Tracks told him.

"Don't have to tell me twice!" Raoul remarked, running off. Tracks turned to the two Decepticons approaching him, blasters armed.

"Greetings, my name is Tracks, this is really all a misunderstanding." Tracks addressed the two. "I came here looking for another Autobot, I had no idea that there were two Decepticons racing here as well, in such... brilliant colors I must say!" He chuckled nervously. "Perhaps we could just... live and let live? All three of us get back to the race? I get the Autobot I'm after, you two don't attack me? We can all win here."

"That's the thing about racing, Autobot." Wildrider said. "There's gotta be a loser, and it's lookin' like that loser is gonna be you!" He said, firing off at Tracks. Tracks leaped to the side, dodging the fire.

"I could use a little help it may seem." Tracks muttered, as close to humble as a 'bot like him normally gets. /Tracks to Mirage and Sunstreaker. Come in!/ He sent to the two's frequencies. Back at the base, neither of the two were paying any attention, too wrapped up in the marathon.

"You just get a transmission?" Sunstreaker asked as they watched.

"Probably nothing important, I'll check my incomings later." Mirage stated. "Now be quiet, Sheryl is about to find out about Gordon and Donna's affair."

"Frag." Tracks muttered when they didn't pick up his signal, most other bots were recharging now, Prowl was up on monitor duty tonight but Prowl didn't really like him, and he didn't really want to tell Optimus he was out street racing. He was out of options. "Alright, I have to fight you two myself." He turned to the Decepticons and drew his weapon. The Lamborghini seemed jumpy, skittish, and easy to take down, the Ferrari could be a problem though.

"Alright Autobot, time to die." Wildrider grinned menacingly.

"Maybe we could bring him back to base, little present for Megatron." Breakdown chuckled.

"What? Wrap him up and put a little bow on him? Come on." Wildrider scoffed before jumping at Tracks and punching him hard in the chest. propelling him back, crashing into the concrete wall. Tracks snarled in frustration as he stood up, brushing the rubble off of his shoulder.

"I didn't want to use these, but you leave me no choice." He said, firing the rockets mounted on his hood a the two.

"Mother!" Breakdown whined moments before a rocket collided with him, Wildrider however was able to dodge the rocket fired at him. He chuckled and cracked his knuckles, how? Who knows.

"Congrats, Autobot. You used up your only rockets. Good looks isn't going to save your aft." Wildrider said, arming his blaster.

"Out of rockets, low on ammo..." Tracks arched his brow before transforming to his car mode. "But I've still got some bright ideas!" He turned his headlights onto the highest settings, shining them in Wildrider's optics, who cowered and covered his optics. "Now's my chance to peel out of here!" He remarked, revving his engine and driving, not letting the loss of one wheel handicap him.

"What'd I miss?" Breakdown asked, sitting up just to be met with Tracks' headlights and then everything else, getting knocked down like a one and a half ton bowling pin. Wildrider growled as Tracks drove off.

"After him!" He ordered Breakdown as he transformed. Breakdown followed suit and the two sped off after Tracks. "I've never met an Autobot who's grinded my gears more than he does." He grumbled.

"Um... Wildrider, this is the first Autobot we've actually met." Breakdown told him. "I mean, sure, Shockwave filled us in on all the known Autobots on this planet, but I mean, this is the first one we've encount-"

"Will you shut up!?" Wildrider snarled. "I don't care how many Autobots we've met, I don't care! Slag, why did your personality chip have to make you so fragging annoying!?" He growled as they zipped past Raoul.

"Of all the races I finally got a leg in, it had to be this one... yeesh." Raoul remarked, rubbing his head.

"Frag... frag frag frag frag **FRAG!** " Raoul heard a voice grumbling behind him. He turned and saw yet another transformer, a new one in his eyes.

"Who are you?" Raoul asked.

"Someone who's gonna beat the absolute frag out of their partner." He replied. "Fragging Decepticons crawling all over this Primus forsaken track."

"You know Tracks?" Raoul asked.

"Who?" The robot asked. "No, and I'm not permitted to disclose my designation or my partner's." He told Raoul. "But... if you could tell me what way the race goes that would be great." He admitted.

"Transform and I'd be glad to." Raoul nodded. The robot sighed and transformed into his alternate mode. Raoul couldn't tell what color the car was in the dark lighting, but the model was a 2016 Mini Cooper. "You even gonna go sixty pal?" Raoul laughed, climbing in.

"I can pass sixty before you can even blink 'pal'." The robot grumbled, peeling off. The car sped along the raceway, speeding right passed Wildrider and Breakdown.

"What was that!?" Breakdown exclaimed, seeing the hatchback pass them so quickly.

"What that was, Breakdown, was another Autobot signal." Wildrider noted. "After him!" The two sped after the Autobot, Raoul turned and saw the two Decepticons approaching.

"Hey hatchback? We've got company." He said grimly to the Autobot.

"Perfect, just what I needed." He grumbled, at that time, the Autobot was nearing Tracks, Raoul pounded on the window of the mysterious Autobot's alternate mode, trying to get Tracks' attention.

"Hey you!" The robot hollered to Tracks. "Take your human friend, I can find my partner from here." Tracks noticed this and transformed, the Autobot holding Raoul did as well.

"Raoul?" Tracks asked. "What are you- Who's this- Wait, you're one of the Autobots from the power plant!" He remarked.

"Yeah, I am." The Autobot sighed. "Look, take your human, I need to catch up with my partner."

"He's not my- Who's your partner?" Tracks asked.

"None of your business!" The Autobot hollered. Such a large temper for someone no taller than Bumblebee. Tracks was about to respond, but he was sidetracked by the sound of Wildrider and Breakdown approaching. The two Decepticons transformed and walked towards the two Autobots.

"Well well well." Wildrider chuckled. "Two Autobots to take down."

"Hey Wildrider, Shockwave never told us about that one." Breakdown pointed to the shorter Autobot standing next to Tracks. "Should we be afraid?"

"Yes." The Autobot answered. "Yes you should." He leaped forward, onto Breakdown and began to clobber him. "Don't just stand there with your piston in your digits! Lend a hand!" He hollered at Tracks.

"Right." Tracks nodded, taking on Wildrider. Not long after the fight began, Wildrider shoved Tracks off of him and grabbed Breakdown.

"Frag this, this stupid race ain't worth it." Wildrider grumbled. "Let's go." He transformed. "If I see either of you following us, you'll be repurposed into Guinea-Pigatron play tunnels." He said, speeding off with Breakdown behind him. Tracks stroked his head and turned to where the other Autobot stood, only to see he was gone.

"Frag." Tracks sighed.

"Took off the moment he could, man." Raoul informed him.

"Perfect..." Tracks remarked. "Wanna finish this race?" He offered.

"Race is long over man." Raoul told him. "No point. You could give me a lift home though, that would be much appreciated."

"I'll have to fly, I don't want to scrape my rim any more than I already have." Tracks noted. "You live far away?"

"Not at all." Raoul shook his head.

"Then get in." Tracks instructed, transforming into flight mode. Raoul climbed in and Tracks took off.

"You can drop me off at the garage on Furman Street man." Raoul told him as Tracks flew over the sleeping city.

"A garage?" Tracks asked. "Cars sleep in garages, I sleep in a garage modified to adhere to my hygienic standards, humans, to my knowledge, do not sleep in garages." He stated.

"It's a garage that also functions as a place to live okay?" Raoul told him. "It's nice to work from home."

"You're a mechanic?" Tracks asked.

"I'm a car specialist, but I specialize in mods and airbrushing." Raoul explained. "Of course, there are a million other auto-body workers in this city, competition is tough." He sighed. "There. Down there." He pointed down at his garage. Tracks descended and landed in the alleyway parking zone of the auto repair shop. " _Raoul's Customs_ " the sign read. Raoul stepped out and opened the garage door. "Thanks for the lift." He turned to Tracks.

"Don't mention it." Tracks transformed. "Say... can you do a good wax job?" He asked.

"I work a buffer like nobody's business." Raoul nodded.

"Good, because after tonight I'll need it. Along with a new tire, and I think one of those Decepticons scratched up my hood design." Tracks grinned. "Happy to give you a little business."

"You Autobots even use cash?" Raoul asked. "I don't work for free."

"How about I pay you back by being your car in the next race?" Tracks offered.

"Make it the next three and it's a deal." Raoul nodded.

Back at the base, Tracks rolled in and checked into his quarters, Sunstreaker was already deep in recharge so he made sure to be quiet, he laid down into his recharge chamber and looked up at the ceiling. The night didn't end up as a complete disaster, sure, he still knew next to nothing about the strange Autobots, _and_ there were two new Decepticons at least out there. But, unexpectedly enough, he had made a friend. A friend he had to tell Mirage and Sunstreaker about, he wasn't kidding about being good with a buffer.


	15. Prowl on Sabbatical

**Author's note:** Prowl, the number crunching, left brained, neurotic grump of the Autobots. Has he ever heard of a vacation? Does he know the definition of "relaxing"? Join us as we embark on a journey of everyone's favorite police bot learning to rest his bones, err joints, err... pistons?

* * *

Chapter 15: Prowl on Sabbatical

"Alright... let's see what we've got..." Prowl muttered to himself in his office/personal quarters. "Gunmetal sports car and white sports car Decepticons? Those don't match up with anything on file..." He remarked as he leafed through files. Tracks had recently told him of his discovery of the new Decepticons, and after a firm lecture telling Tracks he shouldn't be out street racing, Prowl got right on finding out more about these new Decepticons.

"Tracks mentioned them referring to Shockwave and Scrapper... maybe they were built? It wouldn't be a new thing..." Prowl muttered. "Shockwave has been known especially for playing Primus. According to his file he's wanted for _several_ instances of illegal experimentation. Frag, I wouldn't want to see those experiments. Maybe he's responsible for those freaky Fuzor things. Those creepy Insecticons too." He murmured. "Plus there's those two others, apparently Autobots. Wonder who they are..." Just then, light flooded his office as the door swung open. Prowl looked up to see Powerglide, one of the transfers from Sentinel Prime's team.

"What can I do for you, Powerglide?" Prowl asked.

"Uhh, don't mean to be a bother, but uh... Sideswipe forgot his gate card and needs to be let in." Powerglide stated.

"Why can't you let him in?" Prowl arched his brow.

"I forgot mine too, in fact, I forgot I even had one, I have no idea where it is." Powerglide stated. "The only reason I got in was I flew over. By the way, the sentry blew out the communications tower trying to nab me."

"That explains the intrusion alarms..." Prowl sighed. "Alright, I'll sign him in and print you both new access keys, lose them again and I'll strip your wings and slash his tires." Prowl said, walking past Powerglide, who chuckled nervously at what he assumed was a joke.

"That was a joke, right?" Powerglide asked to no response. Prowl typed a code at the keypad that disengaged the sentry and opened the door. He crossed his arms and watched Sideswipe strut into the base, covered in dents and scratches.

"What in the pit happened to you?" Prowl asked. "Decepticons?"

"Nah, I went off roading, I definitely don't have the alt mode for it, drove off a butte!" Sideswipe laughed. Prowl rolled his optics and shut the gate.

"Go see Ratchet about getting those dents pounded out. We aren't letting you leave base looking like that." Prowl instructed. "Now, I need to see Wheeljack about the reconstruction of our communications tower, thanks to your little stunt." He said to Powerglide. After watching Powerglide and Sideswipe walk off, Prowl turned to go to Wheeljack's laboratory.

"Hey, Wheeljack, I need to speak to you about-" Prowl began as he walked in before seeing Wheeljack stuck to the wall with Skyfire trying to get him unstuck.

"Hey Prowl!" Wheeljack greeted him.

"Skyfire, what's going on?" Prowl turned to Skyfire, who was in the process of trying to let the engineer off of the wall.

"Wheeljack seems to have melted his back plating against the wall." Skyfire explained. "He was experimenting with a new coating that would be heat retardant."

"The heat generator blew up when I had my back to it, then I got propelled into the wall, cooling systems kicked in and my back dried to the wall." Wheeljack concluded. "You uh... you think you could get Ratchet? I'd rather someone with hands smaller than my head try to get me out."

"There is no need to be rude." Skyfire remarked. "I may be twice the size of you and the others, but I'm multiples more careful and precise in my work than you can even process."

"I'll go get Ratchet." Prowl nodded, the communications chapter would have to wait. Prowl walked over to Ratchet's medical bay, looking around at the base. A run down military base was a relatively creative idea for the Autobots to call home on Earth, considering the hangars all served perfectly for resting places or personal zones for work. The runways adorning the base made good space for simply roaming, it definitely had more elbow room than the old warehouse. But the more space Prowl had, deep inside the more he felt alone. I mean, it's not like he wanted to have a lot of friends, but he had to admit having friends would be nicer than the current situation. Most of his teammates he felt just didn't like him. At all.

"I actually used to have a Corvette for an alt mode back in the seventies." Prowl overheard Sunstreaker mention as he walked closer to Sunstreaker, Mirage, and Tracks talking outside Ratchet's medical bay. "Traded it in when I realized Lamborghinis are superior in every way."

"As if." Tracks scoffed. "Your alt mode is so low to the ground that once you drive over a pebble you'd lose your shocks."

"Y'know," Prowl turned to the group. "A Ferrari for an alternate mode would be almost equally as stylish as the Lamborghini and perform with more practicality." He suggested to Sunstreaker. "Just saying." The three shuffled their feet and nodded awkwardly.

"Oh... that's interesting." Tracks noted.

"Thanks for the tip.. um, sir." Sunstreaker nodded. "Um, I have Sideswipe's access card, well, I found it. I was going to give it to him but he left before I could."

"Oh, alright then." Prowl nodded. For whatever reason Sunstreaker thought that mattered to him. "Well, make sure to have it to him before he leaves again... or I'll strap a parking boot on you!" He attempted a joke to lighten the mood, the three 'bots exchanged worried looks at the statement. "Oh... um... that was a joke, just get it to him. Mirage, I'll see you in a cycle for refueling." He said, turning and leaving for Ratchet's bay.

"So next time, what are we not going to do?" Ratchet asked Sideswipe as he worked away.

"We're not going to go off roading on top of a butte." Sideswipe droned. "Or dangerously close to a canyon."

"That's right." Ratchet nodded. "Hey Prowl." He said without looking up.

"How'd you know?" Prowl asked.

"I saw a shadow and noticed the door wings," Ratchet stated. "The only other mech your height with door wings around here is Jazz, and Jazz would have already been talking before walking in."

"Touche." Prowl nodded.

"Alright Sideswipe, all the dents are out." Ratchet told him. "Now, go see Tracks. Here's a doctor's note telling him he has to give you a buffing job."

"Thanks doc!" Sideswipe jumped up. "Um... 10-4 officer." He nodded to Prowl.

"Not even close." Prowl remarked. Sideswipe chuckled nervously and left Prowl alone in the medical bay with Ratchet.

"So, what brings you in here?" Ratchet asked. "You appear to be fine, so I doubt you're here on account of yourself." He remarked.

"I'm not, Wheeljack needs a servo in his lab, he seems to have cauterized himself to the wall." Prowl explained.

"Fourth time this month." Ratchet sighed. "How many times to I have to tell him to ask Trailbreaker for help in the lab? Those force fields would come in handy." He muttered, walking with Prowl to Wheeljack's lab.

"You know as well as I do Wheeljack can be stubborn." Prowl noted.

"Ah yes, the oil filter calling the dragshaft black." Ratchet chuckled. "Wheeljack's ways are his own, but even he knows when to kick back and relax."

"What are you saying?" Prowl asked.

"I'm saying it's been nearly a year now since our arrival, and I've never seen you socialize bar one time when Starscream was here." Ratchet stated. "And I know that was just so you could keep tabs on him. I'm saying I don't understand why you pretend to be above things like going for a drive or... playing a game of lob ball now and then."

"Driving with no destination is a waste of energon, and lob ball takes away from time that could be spent being productive." Prowl explained, knowing the real reason was "I don't do those things because nobody really likes me."

"Well Prowl..." Ratchet sighed. "Just... try and remember there's more to life than datapads and training exercises." He concluded as they turned to enter Wheeljack's lab. "Now, I'm sure you're very busy." He said, entering. Prowl could hear Ratchet chew Wheeljack out for not following his advice. Prowl scoffed at the medic's words and went back to his office.

* * *

"So, as you can see, Decepticon signals have been popping up in a pattern." Prowl stated the next day at the bimonthly meeting of the higher ups in the Autobot ranks. These meetings consisted of him, Optimus Prime, the leader, Jazz, second in command, Ironhide, head of combat, Ratchet, medical chief, Wheeljack, chief in science and engineering, and the newest members of the staff meets, Trailbreaker, head of security, and Blaster on communications. "I have a feeling if we were to start putting Autobots on patrol here... here... and here..." Prowl pointed to spots on a map. "We could get a chance and see just what they're..." He turned to the table and sighed. Jazz, Blaster, Wheeljack, and Trailbreaker were dead out cold.

"Wheeljack, Jazz, Blaster, Trailbreaker!" Ironhide slammed his fist down on the table, jerking the four Autobots awake.

"I'm up!" Wheeljack leaped up.

"Back!" Jazz jerked to motion.

"Up and at it!" Blaster exclaimed.

"Force fields!" Trailbreaker sat up.

"Right, as I was saying..." Prowl looked back to the board. "Forget it." He sighed. "Meeting adjured." He said, pressing the button to bring the screen down and hatching the projector to his waist.

"What's with him?" Trailbreaker leaned over to Ratchet. Ratchet arched his brow and scoffed, standing up to leave as some of the others filtered out of the meeting room.

"Prowl." Ratchet called once he caught him in his glance. Prowl turned and put his hands on his waist.

"Yeah?" Prowl asked. "What is it Ratchet?"

"Come with me." Ratchet instructed him, bringing him along to his medical bay. Once they got to the medical bay, Ratchet sat down at a makeshift chair and motioned to another for Prowl. "Sit down, Prowl." He said.

"Sit down?" Prowl scoffed with a chuckle. "Are you my therapist?"

"No, but I'm Team Optimus' top doctor." Ratchet stated.

"You're Team Optimus' _only_ doctor." Prowl ached his brow.

"Right, but as the only doctor, I care about my team care about their well being, both physical and cerebral." Ratchet explained. Prowl was taken aback, surely Ratchet didn't think Prowl wasn't firing on all cylinders. "Prowl, look, all this... working, it's not healthy." Ratchet began. "I mean, sure, working is very important... but... in every 'bot's life, they have to make a little time to... relax."

"I have recharge time for relaxation." Prowl noted.

"And how long to you recharge?" Ratchet asked, a sly grin spreading across his face.

"Normally around four Earth hours, but today I slept in, four and a half." Prowl noted.

"That's only _half_ of what's healthy for your processor, you know that." Ratchet replied. "Add all the shift work you do with no breaks, you're on a one way train to an early processor crash." Ratchet remarked. "And you're far too young for that."

"Relax Ratchet, I'm fine." Prowl scoffed.

"No Prowl, no you're not." Ratchet shook his head. "I've seen it a million times before, a bot works himself too hard and his processor overheats, no coming back from it, and I don't want the same thing to happen to you. Your radiator is twenty percent hotter than what's healthy, consider that a warning." Ratchet remarked. "Prowl, there's no other thing for me to do. I'm quarantining your office."

"What!?" Prowl jolted.

"Your office is being locked up for the next week." Ratchet said. "And you are going to learn how to relax."

"I don't need to learn how to relax." Prowl protested. "I'm perfectly capable of relaxing without restrictions placed on my work."

"If that were the case you would already be doing it." Ratchet sighed. "I'm going to make you take a temporary leave, one week away from base, away from work, and away from stress. Sorry Prowl, doctor's orders."

"You're kidding." Prowl remarked.

"I do not kid about serious matters, Prowl." Ratchet replied. "Now... let's see..." He picked up some datapads, "Jazz perhaps? Sideswipe..."

"What are you doing?" Prowl asked.

"You need a partner." Ratchet replied. "You need to spend the week with someone... _well versed_ in rest and relaxation, and cutting loose and having fun, overall just being a fun bot to be around. I'd go myself, but, I'm the only doctor Prime has." He explained. "Let's see... I don't know how Prime would feel about me taking three of his bots out on a leave... better just send one." He remarked. "How about... Jazz."

"Jazz?" Prowl asked. Jazz was Prime's second in command, how he ever got that position was beyond him. He was younger than Prowl, less responsible than him, he almost reminded Prowl of one of his brothers, except instead of being a gambling card-sharkticon he was co managing a team.

"Yes." Ratchet nodded, talking to himself. "Jazz is a perfect choice." He said, standing up. "I've already sent the plan to Optimus, he seems to be on board, c'mon, we're going to get Jazz." He said to Prowl, who albeit reluctantly, got up and followed Ratchet. "I know you're upset with me right now, but when the week is over you'll thank me." He said to Prowl.

"I bet." Prowl replied flatly as he and Ratchet turned into Jazz's quarters, Jazz was in the midst of doing something that caught Prowl off guard, he was... meditating? Ratchet knocked on the wall to get the SIC's attention.

"Jazz." Ratchet called his name, Jazz turned to him with a grin and welcomed the two bots inside.

"Ratchet, Prowl, namaste." Jazz nodded respectfully. "Probably wondering about the meditating scene," He turned to Prowl. "After that run in with Megatron, I almost didn't make it out alive, and when I came to I realized life is short, too short to go on without a little inner peace, I've found meditating's helped me out." He explained. "Anyway, what can I do for you guys?" He asked.

"Prime didn't tell you?" Ratchet asked. "I'm putting Prowl on sabbatical and I need you to-" Ratchet explained before the thought reentered Jazz's mind and he nodded.

"Yeah, he told me." Jazz nodded. "Sometimes I just lose track of somethings after a meditation session." He explained. "Sounds like a good idea," He said with approval. "Just let me grab a cube to refuel and Prowl and I will be out of your hair." He said, grabbing an energon cube from beside his recharging berth. "Alright, let's get going!" He said.

"See Prowl?" Ratchet turned to Prowl. "Jazz is looking forward to it, just try and have a good time." He said, leaving Prowl with Jazz, who looked at Prowl with a little smile.

"Alright Prowl, let's get going!" He said with a grin.

Not long later, Prowl found himself parked by the curb of a suburb complex, waiting for Jazz. Jazz had the absolutely genius idea to ask his human friend, Carly to join them since she wasn't in school at the time. Because spending the week away from work with Jazz wasn't bad enough for Prowl, now he had a human he needed to look after. Once Jazz returned with Carly and transformed, the two Autobots kept driving again.

"So Prowl, anywhere you wanna visit?" Jazz asked him.

"Just let me have a week long stasis nap in the nearest parking garage." Prowl replied coldly. "You and Carly can go off and have fun, and when we get back I can make up a story for Ratchet."

"Wow, he's in worse shape than you made it seem, Jazz." Carly remarked. "Say, there's a concert tonight..." She began to say.

"Really? Who's playing?" Jazz asked as they drove, Prowl already did not like where this was going.

"Brick Springstern." Carly answered. "He's on a reunion tour."

"Musta blown all his dough from when he was actually a somebody." Jazz remarked with a laugh, knowing that was usually the reason older celebrities came out of retirement. "We are _definitely_ going to that. You may even like this guy, Prowl."

"Yeah? What makes you think that?" Prowl asked.

"Well, well he's um..." Jazz thought. "Well, I know you like..." He stopped once more. "Well, you never know. You might like him."

"How comforting." Prowl said flatly.

Jazz was wrong. Prowl did not enjoy the concert. It was outdoors in a large field, Prowl was not a fan of grass fields. They sat in the back, yet Prowl still thought the music was far too loud. And every organic at the concert smelled... weird. Jazz and Carly seemed to be having a good time, but Prowl longed to be on his own. Something that wouldn't be possible for the next week.

That night, Jazz and Prowl powered down in the parking lot of a motel not far from where the concert was while Carly rented a room to sleep in. Prowl knew that despite how much of a pain his first day was, at least he could recharge now, and not have to worry about anything. Well, that's what he thought anyway.

When Prowl awoke, something felt wrong, he felt unclean for some reason, everything looked the same, he was still at the motel. He didn't feel broken or like he had been attacked by a Decepticon, just... unclean. He could hear Jazz and Carly snickering, at what he didn't quite know.

"Are you gonna tell him?" Jazz asked.

"No way! You tell him!" Carly replied.

"Tell me what?" Prowl asked, transforming. Jazz and Carly looked at him once more and began to laugh, " _Okay, evidently this is about me._ " Prowl thought. But what?

"Prowl, you might wanna look in a mirror, or something where you can see yourself." Jazz suggested between laughs. Prowl looked at him quizzically and went up to a nearby building with a large window so he could see his reflection and find out what was so funny, and what he found was _not_ funny. Prowl had been vandalized while he was in stasis! One of his headlights on his chest had been smashed in, and graffiti covered his door wings. Prowl clenched his fists and growled angrily. "Great." He snarled between clenched teeth.

"Looks good on you, Prowl." Jazz chuckled.

"Why? Why me?" Prowl griped. "You were parked right next to me, there's not a scratch on you!" He exclaimed, walked back over to Jazz and Carly.

"Street cred, man." Jazz replied. "People know me, I got a lotta good karma after I stopped that hijacked bus last week. Usually you stay behind, some teenage punk probably just saw you as a regular cop car."

"I have Autobot symbols on my doors _and_ a giant one on my chest!" Prowl exclaimed.

"Not that you can see the ones on your doors anymore..." Carly snickered.

"Hilarious." Prowl replied to her laughter.

"Alright, alright." Jazz said. "C'mon, I heard tell of a guy through Tracks who'll get you all fixed up." He said, helping Prowl out. "I'll show you the way." Jazz said, transforming, Prowl did the same and began to drive, only to feel a scrape on the concrete when he did.

"Of course." Prowl grumbled in his vehicle mode. "My tires were stolen." He said, transforming back to his robot mode. "I think I'll just walk." He muttered. Just his luck, when they arrived at the guy in question, Raoul, two Autobots he really didn't want to see were there. Sideswipe and Tracks. He learned that Sideswipe and Tracks were out on patrol and Sideswipe had gotten into an accident with a parked car.

"How many friends d'you got, man?" Raoul asked Tracks. "One of these days I'm gonna need to get payed in cash, not races." He said as he worked on Prowl.

"Consider my way of paying you not informing the police department of your record." Prowl answered.

"It's not cash, but it'll do." Raoul mumbled.

"Pay no mind to him, he's like this all the time." Tracks explained to Raoul.

"Plus he must be even more testy because he got fired." Sideswipe added.

"I didn't get fired, I'm on sabbatical." Prowl replied to Sideswipe.

"Hey, don't get religious on me, man." Sideswipe said, not understanding what sabbatical meant.

"Whatever." Prowl muttered. "How does it look, Raoul?" He asked.

"You're gonna have to talk to someone else about your headlight, otherwise you're good to go man." Raoul answered. That was all Prowl needed, with no word he simply drove off. Jazz turned to Tracks and Sideswipe and nodded a slight farewell before following Prowl with Carly.

Jazz eventually caught up with Prowl, who had made his way to the nearest parking garage, ready to just sleep for the next week, but Jazz wasn't having that. "C'mon Prowl," Jazz said. "Let's do something fun to pass the time." He suggested.

"You and I probably have very different definitions of fun." Prowl answered. "Case in point, that concert. I hated it."

"Okay." Carly said. "What do you find fun?" She asked. "There must be something that you do to have some fun."

"And before you say it, paperwork doesn't count." Jazz chuckled.

"I... I wasn't going to say paperwork." Prowl replied. "But... but I guess I do have something in mind." He said, in seconds, a holographic police officer appeared inside his alternate mode. "Any highways nearby?" Prowl spoke through the projected officer.

Moments later, Jazz found himself parked beside Prowl on the highway, watching vehicles drive by. "What exactly are we doing?" Jazz asked.

"We're going to put a little fear into reckless drivers." Prowl explained. "It's fun to see the look on some people's faces."

"This is unexpected, Prowler." Jazz chuckled. "Didn't figure you got your kicks doing anything other than shift work."

"This used to be my shift work on Cybertron." Prowl answered. "But ever since I got drafted to join Prime's crew, I longed for it." Prowl explained. "I loved being on highway patrol, it was a rush, a thrill. Plus, I felt good knowing I was helping to keep the streets safe."

"I mean, at least back on Cybertron auto repairs and hospital trips were the same thing, that must save a lot of reckless drivers some money." Carly remarked.

"When I was on patrol, they didn't have to worry." Prowl replied. "No accidents on Iacon 7B for all seven thousand stellar cycles I was positioned there... Now, be quiet, I'll lose concentration." He ordered Jazz and Carly. "Easy does it..." Prowl murmured. "Any second..." He mumbled. Just that moment, two cars sped past him, swerving and dodging civilian drivers. "Ha ha! That's the stuff, c'mon Jazz, let's go!" He said, blaring his sirens and speeding after the two cars.

"Pull over!" Prowl hollered at the two cars, speeding up ahead. "Jazz! Stay on me!" He called to Jazz, making sure he was still close.

"I'm on you, man." Jazz called back just behind him.

"This is exciting! My first car chase!" Carly exclaimed.

"Yeah," Jazz replied, keeping his voice down so that Prowl wouldn't hear him. "Keep a watchful eye, huh Carly?" He suggested. "Prowl's acting a little suspicious all of a sudden. I've seen him chasing before, but he's never gotten excited like this." Jazz remarked. Just then, two signals started flashing on the screen where Jazz's radio would be in his vehicle mode, two Decepticon signals. "Decepticons?" Jazz asked aloud. "Uh... hey, Prowl!" He called. "Looks like there's two Decepticon signals in the area!" He called to Prowl.

"Weird, probably just Skywarp and Thundercracker flying overhead." Prowl shrugged it off nonchalantly, now Jazz and Carly were onto him. Those two Decepticon signals in question were not Skywarp and Thundercracker, but the two cars that Prowl was chasing. Prowl knew this very well however. Those signals belonged to the two Decepticons that Tracks had told him about in his report, Breakdown and Wildrider. And now, Prowl was gonna take them in.

"Pull over!" Prowl hollered out. Up ahead, Wildrider and Breakdown performed a scan on Prowl to see who they were up against.

"Aw man!" Breakdown exclaimed. "It's Prowl! What're we gonna do?"

"What we're going to do is keep driving, fragwad." Wildrider scoffed. "We're only a mile away from the others. He won't know what hit 'em." The two kept on driving, and Prowl and Jazz stayed after them, Jazz however was more concerned with keeping tabs on Prowl than the chase itself, especially since his motives were becoming more and more obvious.

"Here's our exit!" Breakdown exclaimed, transforming in the midst of highway traffic, Wildrider did the same and the two began to run off into the forest next to the highway. Prowl transformed where they did and turned to Jazz.

"C'mon! Let's go!" He exclaimed.

"Prowl, those are Decepticons, you _knew_ they were Decepticons when you started chasing them." Jazz said.

"No I didn't." Prowl shook his head. "Now, let's go!" He said, running after them. Jazz sighed and looked to Carly.

"You'd best be ready to run off if this goes sour." Jazz said to his human friend before he ran off after Prowl. "Prowl! Prowl!" He called after him as he ran through the forest, chasing him.

"Jazz! Good." Prowl said, leaning against the wall of what appeared to be an abandoned mill. "Good thing you're here, I'm about to bust these two Decepticons." He grinned, brandishing his pistol and ready to charge inside.

"Prowl, we need to have a talk." Jazz said, impatient with the newfound scheming of Prowl.

"Can it wait?" Prowl asked. "We've got some creeps to take down." He said, running towards the entry of the mill. Jazz tried to hold him back but resistance was futile. Prowl was already there, about to charge.

"Prowl, I'm not saying this is as your partner, I'm saying this is Optimus' second in command. Stand down." Jazz ordered, but Prowl didn't listen, he kicked in the door and aimed his blaster.

"Freeze Decepticons!" Prowl hollered, he saw the two Decepticons he chased... and three more staring at him and Jazz.

"Friends of yours, Breakdown?" A maroon colored Decepticon with a gold colored faceplate who was roughly the same height as Breakdown and Wildrider asked. This was Dead End.

"No? Good. Let's rough 'em up!" A bright yellow Decepticon who looked similar to Mirage except with a different looking head grinned sadistically. "Or better yet, bring 'em back to Megatron! What do you think, boss?" Drag Strip, the fourth member of the Decepticon subteam asked the one who was taller than the others, similar to Optimus Prime's build but various shades of gray with a block shaped head named Motormaster.

"Frag that, let's just turn these two into scrap!" Motormaster barked, firing at Jazz. Jazz leaped behind the wall and shielded Carly.

"Hide! Now!" Jazz ordered Carly, not wanting to see her get hurt or worse. "Good going Prowl." He grumbled.

"How was I to know there'd be more?" Prowl asked. "Besides, the more the merrier." He grinned.

"No." Jazz shook his head as he fired back at the team. "Not 'the merrier'. Prowl, does this seem like taking time off to you? Ratchet ordered you to take this week off, and you deliberately disobeyed him!" He said.

"Ratchet doesn't need to know!" Prowl replied.

"Ratchet's gonna know when he has to pick up the pieces of us!" Jazz exclaimed. "That's it. I'm calling in for reinforcements."

"No you aren't." Prowl said sternly.

"Yes I am, Prowl!" Jazz exclaimed. "I'm in charge of you _and_ the I'm the second in command, you don't get to order me around!"

"You call for reinforcements, and Optimus is going to find out about that time on Cybertron a couple million stellar cycles ago." Prowl said slyly. "What were you brought in with? seventeen megagrams of forestonite?" Prowl grinned, knowing he had leverage on the mech.

"I was holding onto that for a friend." Jazz replied sternly, dodging a blast from Dragstrip. "Why does this matter so much to you?" Jazz asked.

"I saw Decepticons. I had to do something, it is my responsibility as an Autobot to do so." Prowl answered.

"You did not 'see them'. You planned this. Didn't you?" Jazz asked. "I remember, you knew they'd be on that highway!" Jazz exclaimed. "Yeah, it was one of the spots you pointed at during that meeting."

"Well look who _was_ paying attention at that meeting after all!" Prowl shot back. "Or did you hear that just before you fell asleep?"

"You Autobots talk too much!" Motormaster growled, he fired a heavy shot at Prowl, sending him flying back twenty yards and crashing into a tree that was large even by Prowl's standards.

"Prowl!" Jazz exclaimed, seeing that Prowl was hurt badly.

"Now, we're gonna ask you to walk away, Autobot." Drag Strip grinned, ready to fire at Jazz.

"You can turn around and run now, not that it will do you any good in the long run." Dead End added, it sounded like he was threatening Jazz, but that was more or less Dead End's outlook on life. Jazz looked to the group, all of them seemed ready to blow him into oblivion. Why did Prowl have to get him into this mess?

"Look, guys." Jazz said. "I'm just gonna walk away now, don't want anyone to get hurt here." He said, trying to ease the tension.

"Too bad we _do_ want someone to get hurt, you!" Drag Strip said, firing at Jazz, many shots hitting him, sending that Autobot down to the ground.

"Not bad, Drag Strip, I've seen better, but not bad." Motormaster commended one of his warriors. The truth was he had not seen better because much like Breakdown and Wildrider, he had only need brought online not very long ago. "Stunticons! Let's ride!" He said, transforming into his large big rig of an alternate mode, the other 'Stunticons', as they apparently called themselves, followed suit, leaving Jazz and Prowl be.

"Frag..." Jazz said, grumbling to himself, his condition wasn't fatal, but he was in pain. He stood up and started plucking bullets out of his doors and chest. He turned to Prowl, he still hadn't gotten up, it looked like that blast from Motormaster hit him hard. Jazz knew there was only one thing left to do.

"He had better not be dead." Were the first words Prowl heard as he started to come to. "I want the satisfaction of killing him myself." Prowl heard, it was Ratchet. Jazz must have called him in not long after Prowl got blasted.

"What happened?" Prowl asked as he opened his optics to see Jazz, Carly, and Optimus looking over him with Ratchet worked on a wound from the blast, he was still in the same place he was after the blast, though part of him wished he was taken back to base..

"What happened is you're lucky Jazz was your partner and not me." Ratchet answered. "Had it been me, I would have strolled on home and left you to leak out after that stunt you pulled. You're lucky that Jazz is a helluva lot nicer than I am." He answered. "Prowl, I assigned you this sabbatical for you to unwind, ease your circuits, because you've been working yourself to death. And what did you do? You went out and nearly got yourself killed."

"There are more Decepticons." Prowl answered, not caring to comment on anything Ratchet had just said.

"Yeah. A subgroup of Decepticon apparently. Because we need more of those." Ratchet nodded with a little scoff. "Jazz filled us in."

"Prowl, it didn't matter that Jazz, Wheeljack, Blaster, and Trailbreaker weren't paying attention." Optimus said. "I was paying attention. I was going to station Autobots at those posts. I was sending Tracks and Sideswipe out to that very spot." He explained. "Though, I should have known better than to do that, considering I passed both of them loitering at the garage of that human Tracks has made friends with." He noted. "Still, this was out of line Prowl."

"I'm... I'm sorry Optimus." Prowl said, hanging his head. "I'm ready for any reprimand you have in mind."

"There will be no reprimands, Prowl." Optimus answered. "I just ask that you respect Ratchet and Jazz's orders next time."

"I will." Prowl nodded.

"Well, Ratchet, we had better leave these two be. They still have the rest of the week on sabbatical after all." Optimus noted. "Let's roll out." He said, he and Ratchet transformed and made their way down the path to rejoin the highway and return to base. Jazz turned to Prowl, Prowl expected the SIC to be angry with him, but he looked more exhausted than anything.

"No more stunts like that, okay?" Jazz asked.

"No more." Prowl nodded. Jazz turned and started to walk away, sitting on the ledge of a cliff no more than twenty yards away from the mill, Carly with him. Prowl walked over and looked over the cliff, watching the sun set on the still busy city. "Room for one more?" He asked.

"Go right ahead." Jazz nodded. Prowl sat down and watched with them, the three sat there in silence until Jazz spoke up once more after a couple of minutes. "Prime already knew about that, you know?" He asked Prowl. "The forestonite. He took me under his wing, got me off the stuff. He was willing to give me what I really needed the most back then, a friend." Jazz explained. "I owe a lot of where I'm at now to him." He remarked.

"I had no idea he knew." Prowl replied. "He doesn't seem like the type to... well... make time for..." Prowl stammered.

"Delinquent kids like I was?" Jazz asked. "Yeah, didn't make any sense to me back then either, but Optimus is a 'bot of many surprises, after all, he is just a regular 'bot like you and me."

"That's true." Prowl nodded. "Jazz... look." He sighed. "I'm sorry for what I did back there."

"Forget it man." Jazz replied, looking out. "I'm just glad you're okay."

"I guess, but... it's not exactly good for an Autobot who's supposed to be a law enforcer to disregard direct orders." Prowl remarked. "I didn't respect you, I'm sorry for that."

"Man, it's okay." Jazz said. "I get why you wouldn't have respected me. You're older, you've got a clean record, I get it. You think you deserve second in command more. I can tell." Jazz said, saying exactly what Prowl had been thinking ever since he joined Optimus' team.

"No, you deserve it more." Prowl said. "I mean, I used to think you didn't, but Prime chose you with good reason. Besides, people like you. That's something you've got going for you." Prowl sighed.

"Man, who do you think doesn't like you?" Jazz asked.

"Oh come on." Prowl replied. "Nobody on the team likes me, they all think I'm this cold, calculated jerk who doesn't care about anyone or anything but work and protocol."

"What makes you think that's what they say?" Jazz asked. "I like you, Prime likes you, Ratchet, Ironide, Wheeljack, Skyfire, Bumblebee, they all like you, Hound and Trailbreaker like everyone, including you. Nobody on the team doesn't like you."

"It just feels that whenever I'm around Sunstreaker's group that..." Prowl began, causing Jazz to burst out laughing.

"What!? You feel like this based off those dudes?" Jazz asked. "Those guys don't like anyone! They don't even like me!" He laughed. "Man, don't go around thinking we all hate you because those snobs think they're better than you. Because you're a valued member of the team and a great 'bot to keep around." Jazz smiled. "But I mean, if you really want to boost your image, try socializing now and then, have you ever seen our rec hall? It's a nice place." Jazz mentioned. "Other than that, you're a cool guy."

"Thanks Jazz." Prowl smiled. "Thanks."

"Though," Jazz thought. "The gate card thing wasn't exactly a popular idea, even Prime wasn't a fan of those."

"I'll try and come up with something else." Prowl replied flatly, aware of how unpopular the gate cards were.


	16. Trine Leader

**Author's note:** After enough chapters focusing on the Autobots, let's check in on a couple Decepticons, shall we? Skywarp and Thundercracker have been longing to fill the Starscream shaped hole in their sparks, and today, they finally will be able to. But can they stand the mech filling that hole?

* * *

Chapter 16: Trine Leader

"Not so tough without your third, huh Decepticreep?" Ironhide grinned as he, Prowl, and Trailbreaker managed to overpower Skywarp and Thundercracker in battle. Damaging the two of them badly and sending them back to the skies, retreating. Seekers always traveled in groups, groups of three to be specific. That's how they were strongest. Since Starscream's banishment, battles had been a consistent losing streak for Skywarp and Thundercracker.

"Stupid Autobot." Skywarp griped. "I ought to go back there and teleport my fist into his abdomen and punch my way out."

"Save your energy, Skywarp." Thundercracker replied. "It's not worth it."

"Why's that?" Skywarp asked. "What, are you an Autobot sympathizer just because we're losing the war now?"

"No. Primus no." Thundercracker grimaced. "I say it's not worth it because when that rust bucket was running his mouth, I managed to grab just what we were looking for." He explained. Thundercracker and Skywarp had been sent out to grab something for Megatron, a fragment of the Allspark. Since the explosion, hundreds of thousands had been scattered across the western coastline of the USA and more. And it had been a race to grab them for both teams. And the Decepticons had won this round.

"You got the Allspark fragment?" Skywarp asked. "No way!"

"Yeah way." Thundercracker replied. "And I know what I want done with it."

"Are we allowed to make those decisions?" Skywarp asked.

"No." Thundercracker said. "But I've got a feeling Megatron will agree with my proposition."

Megatron didn't agree. Not initially anyway. Thundercracker proposed that using the Allspark fragment they could create a new Seeker, a replacement for Starscream to complete the trine once more. "Thundercracker, we have the opportunity to make anything we want, from a minicon to a titan, and you want to use it on a Seeker?" Megatron replied to Thundercracker's proposal.

"Lord Megatron," Thundercracker pleaded. "A new Seeker would boost our ability in battle tenfold, you've seen what Seekers can do in threes, we've taken down titans!" He exclaimed. "But without a third we lack our advantage, I can assure you it would be a worthy investment in the long run."

"Plus, there's thousands of other Allspark fragments." Skywarp added. "C'mon Megatron, give us a break here."

"Not helping." Thundercracker elbowed Skywarp, knowing Megatron did not care for such casual type of speaking. Megatron looked at the two Seekers with a blank expression, they couldn't tell if he was for the idea or not, they could just tell that he was thinking.

"Well," Megatron began. "Very well. You may use the fragment on a new Seeker, but I want no responsibility over it or the outcome." Thundercracker grinned in satisfaction while Skywarp pumped his fists in excitement. Thundercracker approached Megatron with a salute.

"Thank you, Lord Megatron. You won't regret it." Thundercracker promised.

"I had better not." Megatron replied. "Now go, leave me." He ordered, Skywarp and Thundercracker nodded and went off for Shockwave's lab with the Allspark fragment. Frenzy and Rumble looked up at their leader, feeling confused.

"You're just letting them take that shard of potential, a shard that coulda made a 'bot like you, and let 'em make a Seeker?" Rumble asked.

"Pardon me, Rumble, but are you questioning me?" Megatron asked, standing up at his throne and arming his cannon. Rumble twitched nervously and began to back away, bumping into the wall. Despite not saying anything, his twin Frenzy did the same, Megatron tended to see them as one, if he was mad at Rumble, he was mad at Frenzy too.

"Gee, uh... no! No sir!" Rumble shook his head. "I love Seekers, Seekers are great!"

"Yeah! They... they come in all those colors, red and white, blue and red, black and purple..." Frenzy shrugged.

"And their personalities! Always great!" Rumble nodded. "Brooding jerk, immature prankster, backstabber..."

"Yes, all these shortcomings," Megatron replied. "And yet they're better than Deployer minions, those things are useless." He smirked.

"Hey, I'm just the way Primus made me." Frenzy stated.

"Get out of my sight!" Megatron barked at Frenzy and Rumble. Rumble and Frenzy backed away more and eventually were running from Megatron's command center for fear of being on the receiving end of Megatron's fusion cannon blast.

"You're just as bad as Starscream." Frenzy remarked. "You're the one who makes him like that."

"Says the one with that 'I'm just the way Primus made me' scrap!" Rumble retorted. "Vector Sigma..." He grumbled, much to the amusement of Blackarachnia and Barricade, who were nearby and listening in on their conversation.

"Y'ever wonder why they technically rank higher than we do?" Barricade asked Blackarachnia, watching the two bicker.

"They _what!?_ " Blackarachnia exclaimed. "I'm _this_ close to grabbing those fragging Insecticons and forming my own team." She joked with Barricade, unbeknownst to her, the Insecticons had overheard her and began to snicker among themselves.

"I'd follow you anywhere, toots." Kickback grinned, overhearing her.

"Oh Kickback..." Blackarachnia smirked. "My spark's reserved for somebot about three times your size and twelve times smarter."

"Twelve times nothing is still nothing is still nothing." Barricade spoke up. "What about me, huh?" He grinned.

"Vector Sigma, this team needs another femme." Blackarachnia gagged, getting up to leave the rec room and head to the seclusion of her chambers.

In Shockwave's lab, Skywarp and Thundercracker let themselves in and informed Shockwave of their new project. Shockwave was not enthused by the request and neither was the currently working Scrapper. Who was in the process of repairing

"Another fraggin' Seeker!?" Scrapper scoffed. "Yeah, that'll be real useful."

"Hey, shut up!" Skywarp retorted. "More useful than another... another one of you!" He replied.

"A group of mechs like me would be far superior to a group of Seekers." Scrapper replied bitterly.

"Well, Megatron wants another Seeker, not another construction vehicle, and we're leaving it at that." Thundercracker said gruffly. "So, Shockwave, when can we expect this new Seeker?" He asked Shockwave.

"Before the sun sets, luckily we have all the resources we need right here." Shockwave answered. "I'll need to take a sample of CNA from one of you, combine that with the Allspark fragment and a protoform shell, we should have it. It's the last protoform we have, so it had better be worth it." He concluded.

"It will." Thundercracker promised.

"An utterance of words is as empty as the shell of a sparkless Cybertronian, results will determine whether this will be worth the sacrifice or not." Shockwave answered grimly as he took the fragment. Skywarp's facial expression drooped as the scientist said that. He turned to his brother, who still remained stoic after the scientist's words, he was either unaffected or a brilliant pretender.

"Yeah, well, get ready to put your shock absorber in your mouth when this Seeker ends up being held in better regard than you." Thundercracker told Shockwave.

"I do not have a mouth." Shockwave answered, pinking up a syringe. "And I would not bad talk the 'bot who is about to extract CNA from you. I may unintentionally puncture something fatal." He threatened. Thundercracker grimaced and held out his arm. Shockwave carefully placed the needle in and extracted raw energon from his pumps, containing ample amounts of his CNA. "There, that is all I need." He nodded. "I'll have to mix this in with enough clean energon so as not to make a direct clone of you, that's one of the risks when manufacturing Seekers, that is, unless you want a clone."

"No. We need someone smart!" Skywarp exclaimed. "A real brainiac. Someone who thinks before they act."

"Perhaps you aren't as dense as you appear, Skywarp." Shockwave remarked. "That's a surprisingly decent idea."

"Don't get cocky, that's one good idea up against eight million years of terrible ones." Thundercracker told his brother. "Thank Primus this Seeker is using my CNA and not yours, otherwise I'd have two jerky frat 'bots to deal with."

"Both of you, leave now." Shockwave ordered. "I cannot work with your incessant bickering." Skywarp and Thundercracker turned back, leaving Shockwave's lab. Both very pleased with how the day had been turning out.

"So, wait a sec, who's gonna be the new leader?" Skywarp asked. "The new guy?"

"What?" Thundercracker asked. "No! That guy'll be born just today, we need someone with experience."

"So, me?" Skywarp suggested.

"Frag no!" Thundercracker exclaimed. "You're a dolt. No offense."

"D'ah, none taken." Skywarp shrugged, well aware he wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. "So I guess that leaves you."

"Me?" Thundercracker asked. He had never even thought about being a trine leader, or a leader of anything for that matter. He had always been a follower, although reluctant at times. He had been that way with Megatron, and that way with Starscream, for millions of years he had been a follower, but now it seemed, whether he liked it or not, he'd be getting a promotion. "Huh, guess that does make me the new leader." He shrugged with a little chuckle. "I don't know, you think I'd be a good leader?"

"Better than Starscream." Skywarp replied bluntly. "But to be fair, that ain't saying much. You gonna change much now that you're the new trine leader?" He asked.

"If you're asking if I'm going to allow you to keep pranking Rumble, Frenzy, and Reflector, yes, you are still allowed. So I guess I won't change." Thundercracker chuckled. A lot of Decepticons saw Thundercracker as a brooding, cynical type who never had much of an interest in being friendly. Generally that was the case too. With Soundwave, Barricade, Scrapper, and all the others, but with Skywarp it was different. Even with Starscream it had used to be different, back before Starscream changed.

* * *

Cybertron: 5 million years ago

"Gee, Screamer, second in command!" Skywarp exclaimed over a cube of high grade at a night of celebration with his brothers. It had been in the very early days of the war, back when it was mere threats and the occasional attack on the opposing city from each side, and Starscream had just been promoted to Megatron's SIC.

"Betcha never thought this day would come, huh?" Thundercracker asked. "Leader of the trine _and_ second in command. What more could a bot ask for?" He asked rhetorically.

"Listen, Skywarp, Thundercracker," Starscream began. "I could be second in command of the Decepticon army, or a mere data collector for the Soundwave, but as long as I have you two, I'm content." This didn't sound like Starscream to those who knew him now, but back before and early in the war he was almost a completely different mech. He was a kind and caring brother to Thundercracker and Skywarp, and usually he was relatively friendly with the other Decepticons.

"Don't get too emotional, you're starting to sound like one of those Autobots." Thundercracker snorted. "Just the other day, I was walking down the street and this Autobot, about up to my knee starts talking to me about preservation of the sea of rust of all places!"

"What'd you do?" Skywarp asked.

"Picked 'em up by the processor and tossed him into traffic!" Thundercracker laughed, earning applause and laughter from his two brothers.

"Good show, Thundercracker." Starscream grinned. "To a new era." He raised his cube.

"To a new era." Skywarp and Thundercracker cheered. That was one of the last moments that the trio felt like real family, Starscream soon became distant from his brothers off of the battle field, opting to get closer with the higher ups like Soundwave and Shockwave, and when he was around his brothers, he was different, he looked down on them. His personality was different too, he had always been ambitious, but soon SIC wasn't enough, he wanted more. Some would argue that his constant attempts to usurp power from Megatron was what ultimately led to the Decepticons losing the war. Skywarp and Thundercracker still attempted to see eye to eye with Starscream after the war, hoping the defeat would bring his newfound toxic ego down a peg, but the loss seemed to have made it even worse, by the time Starscream had attempted to destroy Megatron in an attack of Optimus' shuttle, it was the last straw, and Skywarp and Thundercracker had lost hope of ever seeing their old brother the same again.

* * *

"TC?" Skywarp asked, seeing his brother looking off into space. Realizing this, the blue Seeker jerked up and looked around, regaining composure. "You okay?"

"Yeah." Thundercracker nodded, standing up. "C'mon, let's go clear some space in our quarters for the new guy."

Later that day, Shockwave had gathered the Decepticons in his lab to welcome the new Seeker as the process had begun to wrap up, in mere moments, the Seeker would be online. Skywarp and Thundercracker stood front and center by Megatron in anticipation. Shockwave pulled the switch that would ultimately end the process, and the new Decepticon jerked alive, colors forming on the gray Seeker frame, primarily lime green spread across his frame with accents of purple. A scowl spread across his face as he looked around, then down at himself, then at Shockwave.

"That's with you, dot-face?" The Seeker asked. Shockwave was unphased by the Seeker's words, instead, Shockwave turned to Megatron and the two other Seekers.

"Behold, the completion of your trine." Shockwave spoke, motioning to the Seeker. Skywarp and Thundercracker stepped toward the green Seeker, who eyed both of them up and down, his processor flowing with pre-judgements.

"And who are you?" The green Seeker asked.

"We're your new brothers." Thundercracker. "I am Thundercracker, and this is Skywarp." He motioned to his twin. "We are all Decepticons, for eons we've been locked in war with the Autobots, who have been ruling over our home planet over Cybertron with an oppressive iron fist."

"Don't we all have iron fists?" Skywarp asked.

"That's not the point." Thundercracker scolded his brother quickly. "The point is, we are together, as a trine. Brothers."

"You two are my brothers?" The Seeker asked.

"Yes. Cast from the same mold." Thundercracker nodded. "A sample of my CNA was used to create you as well."

"Along with a bunch of energon, an Allspark fragment, and a protoform." Skywarp added.

"Ener... what?" The Seeker asked. "Proto... huh?"

"Perhaps _this_ may help." Shockwave spoke up, plugging a cable into the back of the new Seeker's head, sending all the information he needed flowing through his processor. He now knew everything about his kind, the war for Cybertron, and enough information on all that's happened since so he was familiar with the other members of his team. His optics opened once more, looking around.

"Gee, thanks." He said, climbing out of the chamber where his protoform laid. "But... one thing remains, aside from a Seeker, who am I?"

"That is for you to decide." Thundercracker answered. "Names and identities can derive from your personality, outlier ability, anything really."

"C'mon! We'll go and see what we can do! Maybe we can find your ability!" Skywarp said enthusiastically, grabbing his new brother by the servo and dragging him outside, Thundercracker turned and quickly followed the two to make sure Skywarp didn't somehow get their new brother killed.

"Do you really think that this was a fruitful way to use an Allspark fragment and our last protoform, Lord Megatron?" Barricade asked Megatron.

"No." Megatron answered. "But if it will boost the effectiveness of Skywarp and Thundercracker I suppose it may be worth it in the long term."

"What if Starscream comes back?" Blackarachnia asked.

"The day Starscream returns I will disassemble him and outfit my throne with his dismembered plating." Megatron replied, clenching his fists in anger towards his former SIC. _"I'm very flattered that you chose me for second in command, Lord Megatron."_ Starscream's voice spoke in Megatron's memory, actually being genuine. _"You're a Decepticon of remarkable ambition, Starscream."_ Megatron remembered chuckling in reply. _"I worry for the day you long for my job!"_ He remembered that conversation crystal clear. Megatron regretted that decision for eons to come, and if her ever saw Starscream again, he would stay true to the words he had just spoken to his troops.

* * *

"Alright, so, to trigger an outlier ability is generally easy." Thundercracker spoke to the new Seeker as they stood just outside the Decepticon headquarters in the middle of the forest. "It's hard to explain, it's just something you... do."

"Shouldn't that data plug Shockwave gave me tell me how?" The Seeker asked.

"No." Thundercracker shook his head. "It gave you information on our race's history, not on anything pertaining to yourself, that's for you to figure out."

"Great." He sighed.

"Back when I was figuring it out, I would just focus hard and I'd snap my digits, on the snap, I could do it, now and then anyway." Skywarp said, demonstrating by teleporting around where the Seekers stood, snapping his digits as he teleported about.

"Alright." The Seeker nodded, prepping himself. "Maybe I don't have an ability, that's possible, right?"

"Yeah, but generally Seekers do." Thundercracker replied. "I've got one, Skywarp has one, only Seeker I ever knew who didn't have one of some sort was Starscream."

"Ah yes, the incompetent backstabber." The Seeker nodded, recognizing the name thanks to the info-dump. "He's the moron who tried to offline Megatron a bunch of times, not to mention he was so caught up in his own processor that he was more of a liability than anything on the battle field." He began to ramble.

"Shut up!" Skywarp hollered defensively. "You didn't know him like we did!" Thundercracker was taken a back, he stopped and looked at his brother, who had suddenly became infuriated.

"Warp, calm down." Thundercracker tried to ease the nerves of his brother.

"No! Starscream may have done some bad stuff, he may have been a crummy trine leader, but he was our brother TC, and I ain't letting this new kid on the block insult him!" Skywarp growled, charging towards the new Seeker. The Seeker braced for impact, ready for whatever Skywarp had to throw at him. He clenched his optics shut and put his servos out, then, just when he thought Skywarp would impact with him, he didn't, he just cried out in severe pain. "AAAUUGH!" Skywarp wailed. The Seeker opened his eyes and saw that he had sprayed a corrosive acid on his trine brother's abdomen. He looked at the tips of his digits, still hot from where the acid came from.

"Whoa..." He remarked.

"Whoa indeed." Thundercracker remarked. "I guess that settles what your ability. Corrosive acid."

"What in the pit, man!?" Skywarp growled. "You din't have to spray me with a fraggin' acid storm!" He exclaimed, standing back up and clutching his torso.

"Acid storm... I like that." The green Seeker smirked. "Call me that. Acid Storm."

"Well, that was... easier than I thought. Good job Skywarp." Thundercracker grinned.

"Happy to have been a part of this." Skywarp whimpered in pain, he glared at Acid Storm and held up his servo, snapping his digits demonstratively and teleported away, presumably to Scrapper's medical ward. Thundercracker sighed, sure Acid Storm had just figured out his ability and conveniently enough his name, but now his brother of millions of years was mad at Acid Storm and presumably him.

"He hates me now, doesn't he?" Acid Storm asked. Thundercracker turned to him and shrugged.

"Probably." Thundercracker answered. "But he'll get over it, but... just be easy when you talk about Screamer, okay?" He suggested. "Sure, he's sort of a name we don't like around here, but... he's mine and Warp's brother, and... I didn't know that still meant so much to him." He explained.

"Alright, thanks... Sir?" Acid Storm asked, not sure what to call Thundercracker.

"Call me TC." Thundercracker smiled, extending his servo to shake. "I may be your leader, but... let's focus on being brothers in this trine, huh?"

"Sounds good to me." Acid Storm nodded, shaking his servo.

"Now, whaddya say when Warp gets patched up we hit up an oil rig offshore? We can make up some high grade and have a Seeker's night." Thundercracker suggested.

"High grade, huh?" Acid Storm mused. "I think I'll take you up on that."

Meanwhile, Starscream could feel all that had happened due to the bond shared between he and his brothers, and he was not pleased. He stormed up and down the shore of the island, blasting angrily at nearby rocks and trees. "So! Megatron decided to replace me? Skywarp and Thundercracker decided they replace me!" He grumbled. "No matter, I have my own strike force! And soon, very _very_ soon, Megatron will rue this day!" He exclaimed with maniacal laughter.

"Lord Starscream," Quickstrike called to him from within the treeline. "We did it! We got the pods online!"

"Excellent Quickstrike, get them out and online, then get them and Blitzwing out here now. I've got an announcement to make." Starscream grinned.


	17. Mirage Badman

**Author's note:** This is a chapter I've wanted to do for a while now, and finally, everything falls into place. I hope you enjoy it.

* * *

Chapter 17: Mirage Badman

 _ **BREAKING NEWS**_

 _ **AUTOBOT ARISTOCRAT MIRAGE FOUND GUILTY IN ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION**_

"Mirage, do you know why you are here?" Mirage was asked, being faced by a council of high up Autobots. The Autobot speaking to him was none other than Ultra Magnus himself, and when an Autobot was being trialed by Ultra Magnus, that's when it was serious.

"Yes, your honor." Mirage nodded. "I know I am here for a crime I did not commit." His statement was met with gasps and murmurs from those watching the trial.

"Easy there, blue boy. Speak out like that and you'll be held in contempt of this court." Sentinel Prime huffed, sitting to the left of Ultra Magnus.

 _"I have nothing but contempt of this court."_ Mirage thought to himself.

"Your honor, there is simply not enough evidence to prove that he attempted to assassinate Alpha Trion." Mirage's court appointed lawyer said, Mirage didn't catch his name, but he was a blue racer build Autobot, he believed his name was Fizzle or something of that manner.

"On the contrary, actually!" A short black and white Autobot said, sitting in the witness stand. "I happened to see the whole thing."

"Is this true, Rewind?" Sentinel Prime asked.

"You bet! Recorded it too." Rewind nodded. He pointed to a small camera sitting just beside his visor that had been built into his face, giving him a literal photographic memory.

"Aaand we're fragged." Mirage heard Fizzle mutter under his breath as Rewind played video of his findings, a silhouette positioned on a building in Iacon's capital, ready to snipe Alpha Trion, who was in the middle of speaking no more than two hundred feet away. Only after Rewind speaking up did the silhouette turn and face Rewind, stepping into the light, confirming that it was indeed Mirage. The video cut out as Mirage shifted his aim to Rewind, luckily, what wasn't seen was that Rewind had backup from the IPD. Iacon Police Department. They apprehended Mirage, who had put up a good fight, and they tossed him into jail. And now, the trial.

"Your honor, I request we reinstate capital punishment for this case." Sentinel Prime suggested to Ultra Magnus, he stroked his chin and pondered.

"No." Ultra Magnus answered. "That won't be necessary. We do that and we are no better than Megatron and his scourge of Decepticons were." At this point, it had been roughly one hundred thousand Earth years after Megatron and the Decepticons were exiled from Cybertron. "Mirage, you are sentenced to life in prison, with chance of parole." He said, hitting the gavel, making his decision final. Mirage stiffened and his jaw dropped. Life in prison, he was so young, he had been fortunate enough to have his life all together, and all of that was going away. Forever...

* * *

"Forever!" Mirage jerked awake from recharge. It was all a dream, well, not a dream since it had all really happened, it was more of a flashback, a flashback he had been seeing quite frequently. That day had ruined his life, he had seen himself holding the rifle, ready to kill Alpha Trion, but... but he didn't remember. He didn't remember even wanting to kill Alpha Trion, why would he? But, because of one night he couldn't remember, he had been thrown in prison for longer than the likes of Bumblebee have been online, and he had been sent off to some mudball of a planet when he was lucky enough to get parole. He didn't know why, but he had been haunted by that memory especially as of late, and he didn't know why.

"Forever?" Sunstreaker asked, he and Tracks already awake and in the process of buffing. Sunstreaker sat in a large chair in the room while Tracks did the buff work, anticipating his turn to be buffed. "What's forever is how long Tracks is taking on my forearm plates."

"You can't rush art, Sunstreaker." Tracks answered. "Something you could learn, you always rush my robot mode's hood, most of it hadn't even seen the buffer when you were quote unquote _finished_ yesterday." Tracks scoffed.

"You always go too hard." Sunstreaker replied. "Plus, you buffed my tires yesterday, I almost drove off the road!"

"I did not, you are just a reckless driver." Tracks replied.

"Guys, do you really have to argue right now?" Mirage asked. "Plus, Sunstreaker, Tracks is right. You're a little sloppy when you buff others, and Tracks, Sunstreaker has a point. You do take too long when you buff. I used my invisibility cloak after you buffed me and Ratchet could still see me because of all the coats you put on me." Mirage ended the debacle.

"You can just buff yourself from now on then." Sunstreaker replied. "There, that should do the trick, now I'm off for my morning refueling." He said, getting up and leaving the hangar to head to the mess hall on the other side of the base.

"But you were supposed to do my-" Tracks replied before realizing Sunstreaker was long gone. "Son of a..."

"I'll do it, Tracks." Mirage said, walking over and picking up the buffer. Tracks nodded with a little smile and sat down in the chair to be buffed. "So, any closer to figuring out who those mystery Autobots are?" Mirage asked him as he worked on Tracks' robot mode hood.

"No, but one of them shares a similar body type to Bumblebee I noted." Tracks replied.

"Ah, a 65356-9292-346." Mirage noted. "That body type's pretty new, must be a young bot."

"Or an old spark in a new body." Tracks remarked.

"That body hadn't even been invented when I..." Mirage stopped in his conversational tracks for a second.

"When you interfaced the poochspark, I know." Tracks replied. "Don't worry, no judgement passed from me."

"Thanks Tracks." Mirage said, still rather annoyed at Tracks' phrasing.

"Well, not about your past anyway." Tracks continued. "Now, about your choice of helmet? Blech. It makes your head look like a dome."

"Really?" Mirage gritted his teeth.

"Oh, really." Tracks replied, not aware Mirage was saying 'really', in the lines of: 'Really? You said that?'.

"One more word about my helmet and I'll get buffer wax in your joints." Mirage threatened. "You won't even stay together in alt mode."

"You had better not..." Tracks began, before he could continue, there was a knock on the wall beside the wide open hangar door. Mirage and Tracks looked to see Ironhide standing there.

"Hey 'Raj, Prime wants you." Ironhide said. "We've got some signs of Decepticon activity upstate, he needs you on account of... well, y'know. The invisibility thing." He explained.

"Alright." Mirage nodded, leaving Tracks alone.

"What about my wax!?" Tracks replied.

"Go buff yourself." Mirage said to him, following Ironhide. "So, what's the activity?" He asked Ironhide as the two walked to the command center.

"Looks like some Seekers." Ironhide replied. "They got a new one, green fella. Some other Cons with 'em, think maybe the Insecticons too." He added. "Shouldn't be too tough, figuring Megatron never does his dirty work himself." Ironhide clenched his fists and grumbled. "If I had the chance, I'd turn that fragger into sheet metal." Ironhide grimaced. "Megatron's rotten that way... he took bots who didn't know better, and got 'em to do these terrible things with the promise of a better future." He sighed. "I lost too many friends to him, through influence and through destruction." He looked down mournfully.

"I know." Mirage stated. "Ironhide... Is it alright if I ask you something?"

"I think you're innocent, if that's what you're asking." Ironhide said. "I know you 'Raj, having been on a team with you all this time to know you wouldn't do anything like that."

"Thanks." Mirage said, it was what he was going to ask, and partly he was happy Ironhide answered before he had to ask.

"After all, you're too much of a pansy-bot to try and do something like that." Ironhide bellowed a laugh. Mirage grimaced at his remark, he had a point, Mirage didn't like fighting, let alone the notion of killing someone. And if that made him a pansy-bot, well... no. He was not going to start going by that.

"Ironhide, Mirage, glad you could join us." Optimus noted as the two walked inside. With Optimus was Skyfire, Bumblebee, Blaster, Jazz, Prowl, Trailbreaker, Ratchet, and Hound. "Alright Autobots, the Decepticons are making their move on an oil tanker dock upstate, presumably to steal oil for energon. And you know what we need to do." He said.

"Roll out!" Hound, Trailbreaker, and a few others cheered. Prime nodded with a little chuckle and the group transformed, heading off for the docks to stop the Decepticons.

* * *

"You know, for someone who doesn't like to fight, you're not bad Mirage." Ratchet remarked as the two fired on Skywarp and Acid Storm, who had pinned the two behind the refuge of a shipping container on the docks. "Deadly accuracy." He remarked as Mirage got Acid Storm in a critical spot on the neck.

"I used to hunt turbofoxes back on Cybertron." Mirage answered. "Gentlebot's sport."

"Yes, killing creatures for fun is _definitely_ a gentlebot's sport." Ratchet rolled his optics. "I'll create a distraction, you get the jump on Skywarp." He devised a tactic.

"Got it." Mirage nodded, vanishing just like that. Ratchet stepped out from behind the crate and began to fire.

"Abandoning your cover? You must be stupider than I thought!" Skywarp laughed, ready to engage fire.

"Falling for an age-old ploy? _You_ must be stupider than I thought!" Mirage countered, attacking Skywarp from behind with a charge and sending him to the ground. "The dumber they are, the harder they fall." Mirage smirked.

"Good work Mirage." Ratchet grinned. "C'mon, let's help the others." He said, the two charging towards the fight happening between the rest of the Autobots and Decepticons. "Sorry to be late to the party, we got a little backed up." Ratchet told Optimus as he and Mirage joined him.

"You're here now. That's what matters." Optimus said. "The Insecticons are up above harvesting the energy, we need to get up there." He informed the medic and the spy.

"I'll go." Mirage said. "I can get the drop on them." Mirage volunteered.

"Mirage, you should take someone with you, the Insecticons prove to be a dangerous threat when alone." Optimus warned. "Bring Jazz and Hound."

"I can handle this." Mirage said, activating his invisibility once more and running off. Ratchet sighed and turned to Optimus. Who returned the look of disappointment

"He's going to get himself killed." Ratchet muttered. Optimus Prime sighed and nodded, it wasn't that either of them doubted Mirage, they just knew first hand that the Insecticons were a real threat, if Primus forbid they worked together and didn't bicker, which was usually the trio's downfall. Mirage sneaked up the tanker, able to walk past Scrapper and Reflector almost casually since his cloak was activated. He came to the side of the ship the Insecticons were at and listened in on the trio's conversation.

"So, how much of this are we giving back to Megatron?" Kickback asked Bombshell as the group siphoned oil from the tanker into energy bordered cubes to make into energon.

"Not much." Bombshell said as they worked. "Besides, what's that trigger happy oaf done for us recently?"

"He gave us refuge when we crashed here _here._ " Shrapnel mentioned. "Albeit reluctantly _ly_."

"Bah! Not good enough." Bombshell retorted. "He sees us as useless grunts, like those Reflector creeps. We could be ruling Cybertron right now if it weren't for him."

"We've been close before..." Kickback grumbled. "Then Megatron or those stupid Autobots always mess it up!"

"It's what we do best." Mirage spoke, making his presence known and aiming his rifle at Bombshell. "Drop the energon and scram, pests." He grinned, Kickback and Shrapnel were taken aback, almost by instinct doing what he said.

"Why don't you eat plasma, Autojerk!" Bombshell replied, firing at Mirage, getting the spy in the shoulder. "Shrapnel, Kickback, don't just stand there, give me a hand!" Mirage ducked behind one of the smokestacks of the ship, assessing the wound quickly.

"It's just a plating wound, by the looks of it." Mirage remarked. "No loss of energon, I'll need to get the plating repainted though." He noted.

"By the time we're done with you, you'll need a lot more than a paint job!" Kickback exclaimed, attacking Mirage from behind with a swift kick. "Yeah! Bet you got a real kick out of that!" Kickback grinned.

"Really?" Bombshell sighed at Kickback's wordplay.

"Well, you get mind control, Shrapnel can use electricity, I just kick! At least let me say cool catchphrases." Kickback replied.

"Not this again _gain_." Shrapnel muttered, walking past his griping brother. "Say your prayers, Autobot _bot_." Shrapnel fired at Mirage in the back, rendering the Autobot unconscious. "Little on the stupider side for a spy _spy_."

"Good work, Shrapnel." Bombshell commended him, walking over to the fallen Autobot.

"Let's kill him." Kickback suggested. "Or better yet, let's eat him."

"No!" Bombshell hissed. "That would set Insecticons back millions of stellarcycles. Besides, there's something eerily familiar about this Autobot..." He knelt down. "This is Mirage!" He remarked. "Vector Sigma, they actually let him out of prison."

"And I thought he would have been there for life _life._ " Shrapnel remarked.

"We could still eat him. Nobody would have to know." Kickback spoke up.

"No! Why eat a perfectly good slave, let's have a little fun with him, shall we?" Bombshell grinned, transforming to rhinoceros beetle mode and planting a cerebro shell on the back of Mirage's helmet, granting Bombshell the ability to control Mirage's every movements.

"Hello Mirage, it's been a while..." Bombshell chuckled as Mirage's body stood up, under Bombshell's control.

* * *

"Decepticons, retreat." Soundwave ordered, not much longer. The battle had been a success for the Decepticons, they had what they needed and needed not stay longer. The Decepticons in the area nodded and took to the sky with Soundwave.

"Let's go after them!" Bumblebee exclaimed, watching them fly away with Optimus.

"The only one of us who could pursue them now is Skyfire, and he'd be quite outgunned in the skies with all of the Decepticons." Optimus noted. "What we can do now is go back to base and hope the next battle will be more successful for us. Autobots, roll out!" At this point, Mirage had rejoined the group, a lot quieter than normal.

"Mirage, good to see you again, glad the Insecticons didn't rough you up too much." Hound remarked, seeing his friend, who did not respond, instead, transforming and joining Optimus Prime's crew. Hound looked quizzically at the F1 Racer driving off, he didn't seem like himself. However, not wanting to get left behind due to his thoughts, Hound promptly transformed and joined the crew.

That night, Mirage arose awake on his recharging berth, the right moment to properly have fun with the mind controlled robot finally dawning for Bombshell. He got up and made his way toward the door of the hangar, pressing the button to open the door, the pulleys and turning of gears were enough to awake Sunstreaker, but not Tracks.

"Mirage?" Sunstreaker remarked, his optics seeing Mirage's silhouette under the glow of the moonlight. With no response, Mirage left the hangar, closed the door from the outside and headed for the exit. Mirage approached the gates to exit, and was scanned by the recently installed scanner to open the door. Now, generally, this would work, but a recently installed security system placed the gate on complete lock down after a certain time of night.

"Mirage? What're you doing out and about? Go back to recharge." Trailbreaker's voice spoke through the door's com, Trailbreaker being on security that night and noticing him through the gate's camera. Mirage looked at the gate's camera and quickly fired at it, ending the transmission. He then fired at the scanner and the door opened. He transformed into race car mode and drove off into the city...

"Where the frag is Mirage!?" Prowl exclaimed that morning, Mirage had not returned that morning, and Prowl was looking all over the base for him. Sunstreaker and Trailbreaker had given him reports about strange behavior, and Wheeljack was less than pleased about having to rebuild the security system.

"He was acting strange yesterday." Hound noted as Prowl searched. "Ratchet, did you notice anything off about him?"

"No." Ratchet shook his head. "He seemed pretty normal when we were fighting Skywarp and Acid Storm. And he seemed eager to go after the Insecticons." He noted. Just then, Bumblebee and Sari came running to the group searching for Mirage, calling for Prowl.

"Prowl! Prowl!" Sari called, wheezing for breath as she stopped at Prowl's feet.

"What is it?" Prowl asked. "I'm very busy."

"There's something that you might want to see." Bumblebee said, leading Prowl and the others to the rec hall, where the news played on the large screen television in the center of the wall. Ironhide, Tracks, Powerglide, Blaster, and Sideswipe were gathered there already.

"Good morning Las Angeles, this is Hector Ramirez, here with breaking news." A mustachioed newsman said on the screen. "Autobot gone Autobad? The Autobot identified as Mirage has been reported to have gone on a destructive rampage last night, injuring twenty." He read, a picture captured of Mirage on a rampage on the screen beside him. "More at eleven." He concluded. Sideswipe turned off the television and looked to Prowl, who clenched his fists and was gritting his teeth.

"Nobody had better find Mirage before I do. Because when I find him, I'm going to kill him..." Prowl growled. But Prowl wasn't going to be the first to find him, a couple other Autobots were.

A red Mini Cooper sat idly outside a store in the city. The news story playing that Prowl and the others had just seen. Seeing this, the car perked up. /Hey, Blue. Guess what? We got 'em./ He remarked at the news.

/Sentinel Prime should be pleased./ A voice spoke through the radio in the Mini Cooper. /I saw the broadcast. Let's go./

Mirage awoke in a pile of rubble with a pain in his head, a pain that he had only experienced once. "Ugh... what happened?" He blinked groggily. "How did I..." He looked around, seeing his body covered in dents and scratches. "My paint!" He exclaimed.

"You're going to have a lot more than paint to worry about." Mirage heard a voice, seeing a short red robot stand over him, a taller gray one next to him. "I am Autobot Cliffjumper from the IPD. And you're under arrest."

* * *

"Well, well, well." Prowl remarked as he saw Mirage sulk back to base. "Look who's back. Have fun on your little night out?" He gritted his teeth, then, to his surprise, he saw two other Autobots with him. "Wait... Who are..." He knew one. He knew one personally. "Blue..." He saw the taller gray Autobot, who was the same build as Prowl, but colored like a civilian car rather than a highway patrol car.

"Hey bro. Long time no see." Blue, or Bluestreak, grinned. Bluestreak was one of Prowl's two brothers. "Well, looks like I'm better at your job than you are after all."

"Easy there, hot shot." Cliffjumper said. "I'm the one who caught him after all."

"Yeah, well, that's great. Now hand him over, I can take care of this." Prowl said, eager to leave this conversation and the two new Autobots.

"I don't think so, bro." Bluestreak shook his head. "Ol' Mirage here is our problem now. Well... he won't be for much longer that is. Sentinel Prime is on his way, Mirage will be facing trial in less than a decacycle."

"What's going on?" Optimus asked, walking over to Prowl, Mirage, and the other two. "Who are these two?" He pointed to Bluestreak and Cliffjumper.

"Optimus Prime, sir." Cliffjumper saluted. "It's an honor. I am Officer Cliffjumper from the Iacon Police Department, this is my partner, Bluestreak. We're here to take Mirage home, to the stockade."

"Under what authority?" Optimus asked. "Mirage is one of my soldiers."

"Under the authority of Mirage's parole, dictated by Ultra Magnus." Bluestreak responded. "Sentinel Prime positioned us here roughly five Earth months ago after he noted Mirage was here. He wanted us to keep an eye on him, make sure he didn't try anything."

"And sometimes a certain _someone_ got sidetracked." Cliffjumper noted. "Like with street racing."

"You were the one who almost blew our cover." Bluestreak replied. "Talking to that other 'bot and that human."

"You're the Autobots Tracks told me about..." Prowl noted. "You were at the power plant that day."

"Yeah, real waste of time that was. Mirage wasn't even there!" Bluestreak griped. "We've been watching, anyway, Mirage is ours, and that's that."

"That is most certainly _not_ that." Optimus replied. "Mirage is one of our own. And I'm not letting him get shipped off to the stockade like this. A fair trial must be ensured."

"You're one of the bots who doesn't think he really tried to off Alpha Trion, aren't you?" Cliffjumper asked bluntly. Cliffjumper was met with the sound of honking of a car's horn, he looked down to see Fanzone's car stopped behind him.

"Hey! Bumblebee, do me a favor, move outta my road!" Fanzone yelled at Cliffjumper. Cliffjumper turned and scoffed at the human.

"Bumblebee? Who the frag is Bumblebee?" Cliffjumper asked, a blaster coming out of a panel on his arm. "Speak that way to an officer one more time and you'll be blaster fodder."

"Cliffjumper." Optimus Prime said lowly. "This is captain Fanzone, you are to show him respect." Prime ordered. "My apologies Franzone, they are not accustomed to your visits, they are... to make a long story short, new." Optimus explained to Fanzone.

"Uh huh." Fanzone nodded, stepping out of his car. "Now, I wanted to speak to Mirage."

"That situation is being assessed, officer." Prowl said. "It's partially why they are here." He pointed to Bluestreak and Cliffjumper.

"They? Ouch, can't even call your brother by name, huh Prowler?" Bluestreak remarked.

"Don't call me Prowler." Prowl snarled. "Come. There is no sense in just standing around idly while we wait. Make yourselves comfortable." He said, grimacing at his brother the whole time.

"Yeah, lets." Cliffjumper nodded. "Blue, hold onto the prisoner." He instructed.

"Why do I have to do it?" Bluestreak whined.

"Because if you're doing it I can remain sure you'll stay out of trouble yourself." Cliffjumper explained. Joining Prime and Prowl, heading off toward the recreational hall. Bluestreak hauling Mirage behind them.

"Bluestreak, you have to listen to me." Mirage said. "I didn't do it!"

"There's evidence that you did." Bluestreak remarked. "On both accounts." He added. Mirage sighed and remained silent afterwards, waiting in the rec hall with the others until Sentinel's ship showed up. When Sentinel arrived, he stepped out and immediately congratulated Cliffjumper and Bluestreak on their work.

"Good work you two, I knew there was something shifty about him. Glad to know the waiting game can pay off." Sentinel grinned. "Even though our _other_ spy was useless."

"Other spy?" Mirage asked. Who was the other spy? He looked at Blaster, who had joined them, the Autobot had a look of guilt on his face when he noticed Mirage's gaze turn to him. His deployer deck opened up for the first time that Mirage could account, and a small black and white Autobot emerged. "You! You're the Autobot from the trial!" Mirage remarked, his eyes forming a glare.

"Mirage, look it's not what you think..." Blaster said, seeing Mirage getting visibly angry. "Rewind's a data collector, that's just the facts."

"You planted a spy in our midst?" Optimus interrogated Sentinel.

"Yes." Sentinel nodded. "I ordered Blaster to stay behind. Tracks, Trailbreaker, and Powerglide just defected." He admitted. "I did what I had to do, Prime. You had a criminal in your ranks."

"A criminal does not a convict make." Optimus answered in response. "I know Mirage, Mirage would not try to murder Alpha Trion, and I suspect foul play on last night's account."

"There was foul play alright." Sentinel nodded. " _From Mirage_!"

"What's done is done." Rewind stated. "Mirage will be facing trial on Cybertron, there is nothing that can be done now on your account, unless you can prove him innocent."

"How can we do that?" Prowl asked.

"Any evidence that may contradict the accusations, which believe me..." Rewind chuckled. "There isn't." Optimus sighed. He looked to Prowl and Mirage, then to Sentinel.

"I am going to Cybertron." Optimus said. "My team is going to Cybertron."

"Fine." Sentinel grumbled, knowing he technically couldn't stop Optimus from coming to Cybertron with his team to attend trail as witnesses of character. "Get your team together, now. We're already running behind schedule."

* * *

"Look guys, home." Bumblebee remarked, looking out the shuttle window as the cramped shuttle entered Cybertron's atmosphere. The shuttle was designed for no more than five Autobots, which would have been perfect for Sentinel, Blaster, Bluestreak, Cliffjumper, and Mirage. But since Optimus and his entire team was coming too, the shuttle was like a can of sardines.

"You're lucky to be pressed up against the window." Tracks griped. "I'm wedged between Trailbreaker and Skyfire. And Trailbreaker's been using a force field to give himself more space."

"I get claustrophobic!" Trailbreaker exclaimed from inside the bubble.

"Is Mirage gonna be okay?" Sideswipe asked.

"Cybertron still hasn't reinstated the death penalty, so he won't be tried the way I'd prefer." Sentinel huffed. "Now, everyone get ready to disembark. We're going to land." He said, the shuttle descending onto a landing platform in Iacon city. "Everybody out. Optimus, your crew will get lodging in Iacon Plaza hotel, as with the jury. Bluestreak, Cliffjumper, escort Mirage to Fort Max, he should remember his old cell."

"No, Sentinel." Optimus shook his head. "Mirage is a member of our team, and my team is receiving lodging in the plaza." Sentinel growled and grumbled, looking to Optimus Prime.

"You know, I've had it up to here with you, Optimus." Sentinel said, putting his hand up to his shoulders. Optimus smirked and replied to Sentinel coolly.

"Good to know there's still more of you to go." Optimus replied, smirking at Sentinel's anger.

"Aw snap!" Bumblebee laughed.

"Sentinel just got Senti-told!" Sideswipe remarked.

"SHUT UP!" Sentinel hollered at Bumblebee and Sideswipe. He looked to Optimus with a look that could kill. "Fine, you want to prolong the inevitable? Be my guest. Mirage stays with you, but after the trial, when he's proved guilty, he will be in Fort Max prison until his spark rots." Sentinel promised.

"Very well Sentinel," Optimus nodded. "Autobots, roll out."

"Better remember to get some pics of Cybertron for Carly." Jazz remarked.

"Me too!" Bumblebee nodded as Optimus' team transformed into their alternate modes which compared to the regular Cybertronian alternate modes now appeared to look quite alien, and went off for Iacon Plaza, while Sentinel Prime, Bluestreak, and Cliffjumper went to Fort Max to explain the situation to Ultra Magnus.

That night, Prime's team was socializing in the common room of the hotel with each other along with various members of the jury. Mirage opted to sit alone, sick of getting looks from jury members. He was then approached by a new bot who had entered the room, a new body in the room, but Mirage recognized him, his old lawyer.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite client!" Fizzle said with a little grin as he approached Mirage at his table in the large common hall.

"I'm your favorite client? Really?" Mirage asked.

"I don't have favorites necessarily, but your trial got me the most fame." Fizzle admitted. "And now we're back for round two, just couldn't stay out of trouble, hmm?"

"I didn't do it." Mirage said. "I have no recollection of doing those things, for frags sake, when I saw Rewind's recording of me on that tower that was the first time I even saw that happening!"

"Right right, I know that, and you know that," Fizzle said. "But Sentinel and Ultra Magnus? They just want you locked up, we need something more solid than 'I didn't do it', you know?"

"I know, Fizzle." Mirage sighed. "Look, I'm going to go and get a drink. I'll get back to you." Mirage stood up and went to the bar, where Tracks and Sustreaker happened to be as well. Others were there too, Trailbreaker and Hound namely, but Mirage was going there to see Sunstreaker and Tracks.

"Hey 'Raj." Sunstreaker said. "Hey barkeep, get this bot a Visco, on me." He said to the bartender, a short and stocky fellow. Red and white with a cylinder head tucked into a hood.

"Yeah sure." The bartender nodded. "So, you guys are from team Optimus, huh? I wanted to go on that quest, I love a good quest. Not that I've ever really been on many, been a bartender my whole life myself." He explained, jabbering on as he gave Mirage his drink. "Hey, I know you, you're that higher class bot who everyone thinks tried to off Alpha Trion, I myself don't really have an opinion since I didn't really look into the trial, but you don't look like a killer, you look more like a bot who'd commit tax evasion if anything, anyway..." By this point, Mirage, Sunstreaker, and Tracks had stopped listening.

"That's Swerve. He let me know about sixteen times." Sunstreaker said to Mirage. "So, how are you feeling?"

"Been better." Mirage admitted. "You guys... you guys believe me, right?"

"Mirage, you're our friend." Tracks nodded. "You can count on us through thick and thin."

"Well, not too thin." Sunstreaker said. "Or is it too thick? Which one of the two is the bad one?"

"I think it's thin." Tracks said. "Regardless, you're our friend, and that's what matters."

"Same from me, sorry to butt in." Hound spoke up. "Trailbreaker and I have your back too, isn't that right?" He asked Trailbreaker.

" _In good times... and bad times..._ -hic- _I'll be on your side for ever moorrree... cause that's what friends are foooorrr..._ " Trailbreaker hummed, already quite deep into Swerve's supplies. Hound chuckled and turned to Mirage, who had let out a quiet laugh about Trailbreaker's intoxicated singing.

"We will all vouch for you, Mirage." Optimus told him, joining the conversation as he happened to hear it, walking by. "You are a member of our team, a reliable member at that, we know you wouldn't lie to us, therefore, if you claim you are innocent, we will fight for your innocence."

"Thank you, sir." Mirage smiled. Prowl and Ratchet stood beside him, both nodding. Prowl turned to Mirage and his expression dropped. "You must be happy, Prowl. Soon enough, I'll be out of your hands."

"I'd be happier if I thought you were guilty." Prowl noted. "Mirage, I know you and I haven't always got along, but... but you're a good 'bot."

"Here here." Ratchet nodded. Ratchet then noticed something, looking at Mirage's helmet. "Mirage... what's with your helmet?"

"I know, it makes his head look like a snowglobe." Tracks remarked.

"No... no, there's... is that...?" He rubbed the back of Mirage's helmet, there was an indentation on it and a hole in the center of the indent. "Huh." He remarked, Ratchet walked off, going to chat with Jazz and Blaster.

"I wonder what that's about." Mirage remarked.

"But really, if you get out of this, consider a new helmet. I know a guy who runs a helmet shop near here." Tracks said. "Maybe one like Sunstreaker's, or a face mask, have you considered a face mask?"

"Tracks, shut up." Sunstreaker ordered. Just then, a new face joined the crew at the bar, a new face Mirage greeted with an expression of hostility, Rewind.

"Hey Mirage..." Rewind said. "Look, I just wanted to say... I hope there's no hard feelings."

"Oh?" Mirage asked.

"I was just doing my job, then and now. I'm a data collector, it's just all in a day's work for me, and... you can be mad at me, but don't be mad at Blaster, he didn't know why Sentinel ordered him to stay on Earth, he was just happy to accept the job." Rewind explained. "Little known fact about Sentinel, did you know that one time he forgot to put his pelvic plating on after hitting the wash racks? everyone in his barracks saw his wiring." Rewind said, stating one of many memories from his collection, trying to lighten the mood, and it worked. Mirage found the story amusing, Optimus Prime especially enjoyed that tidbit of information, bellowing a laugh at the story.

"I suppose it would be foolish of me to hold a grudge, from one spy to another." Mirage admitted. "Very well Rewind, no hard feelings."

"Thanks." Rewind said. "Now, let me get you a drink, an Engex, on me." He offered.

"No thanks." Mirage shook his head. "I'm happy with my Visco."

"I'll take it!" Trailbreaker grinned, leaning over to make eye contact with the little data collector.

"No no, I think you've had enough." Hound said, leading his friend away. "I think it's time to go recharge."

"But the happy little elf wuz gunna buy me a drink!" Trailbreaker whined. Mirage chuckled and looked to his right where Sunstreaker and Tracks were, they had left the bar after Swerve had started talking to them again. Mirage looked to his left and saw Prowl, sitting at the bar, hunched down over a drink.

"Is everything alright?" Mirage asked. Normally, he wouldn't ask such a thing, after all, he and Mirage weren't exactly friends, but call it the mood in the air that night, or call it a recently formed bond, but Mirage felt it was only right to ask.

"Yeah." Prowl said. "Just... I don't know, call it being petty, call it jealousy, call it what you like... but of all the bots... why did it have to be him?" Prowl remarked, eluding to Bluestreak.

"I don't follow, I figure you'd be happy your brother was in your line of work." Mirage remarked.

"If you knew him like I do, you'd get it." Prowl said. "He's always been... a coaster. He never worked hard for anything in his life. He was just lucky enough to pass the entrance exam to the police academy without studying, he always got positions from quickly becoming all buddy buddy with higher ups, and he hardly ever takes anything seriously."

"I could gather that." Mirage replied. "Older or younger?" He asked.

"Twin." Prowl stated. "I came from a set of triplets. My other brother, he's off Primus knows where in the galaxy sleazing his way through casinos and track races, and then Bluestreak just sort of... became me but better." Prowl sighed. "I know, I sound like a grade A jerk for not wanting my own brother to succeed, but it's frustrating." He explained.

"I get it." Mirage shrugged. "I'd feel that way if I were in your place too. And it doesn't make you sound like that much of a jerk."

"Thanks." Prowl replied.

"Besides, you have said _so_ many things that have made you sound like a jerk before this." Mirage smirked.

"Frag. You." Prowl scoffed, still finding Mirage's words amusing.

* * *

The day of the trial, Optimus Prime's team sat behind Mirage and Fizzle, who once again, sat before the council. Ratchet, Wheeljack, and Skyfire however had not showed up. In fact, Ratchet had locked himself in his room for the days leading up to the trial, nobody had seen him since the night of the arrival. Optimus thought that was odd.

"Ultra Magnus, your honor, we've really got an open and shut case here." Sentinel Prime spoke as the plaintiff of the trial. "Bluestreak and Cliffjumper have clear evidence that Mirage here broke parole, and therefore should resume his life sentence."

"It appears that is the case, Sentinel Prime." Ultra Magnus noted. "It should however be made known that Mirage has witnesses of character with him today, perhaps they would like to shed some light on the situation." He spoke, looking to Optimus Prime and his crew. "Have you anything to say in regards of proof that Mirage is innocent?" He asked.

"The only thing we can say sir is that through Mirage's time of service, it seems highly unlikely that he would commit the crimes he is accused of." Optimus Prime said, a tone of grimness in his voice, knowing that that alone would not be enough for Ultra Magnus. Sentinel Prime looked to Optimus and chuckled smugly.

"Very well." Ultra Magnus nodded. "Mirage, I am sorry... But things aren't looking good, without any more evidence, I'm afraid I will have to reinstate your sentence." He said, lifting his gavel, just before it was about to collide with the desk, the courtroom doors busted open, and Ratchet, Wheeljack, Skyfire, and even Brainstorm and Perceptor ran through the door.

"Stop!" Ratchet yelled. "We have evidence that the court needs to see!" Ultra Magnus stopped in his tracks and looked to the field medic.

"What are you doing, field medic?" Sentinel asked with contempt.

"Sentinel, Ultra Magnus, there's been a development... so to speak." Wheeljack mentioned. "Ratch?" He looked to Ratchet.

"Thank you." Ratchet nodded. "This is a cerebro shell." He said, lifting up a small device. "This device is designed to place one under mind control, and is wielded by a Decepticon on our planet, Insecticon leader Bombshell." Ratchet explained. "This specimen is a recovered and rebuilt one that was placed on Autobot communications expert Blaster no more than a month ago."

"It's true, not a fun experience." Blaster spoke up.

"I suspected foul play from the beginning." Ratchet explained. "Mirage isn't a fighter, he's made that quite clear. So I knew that not all was well when I heard about Mirage's bout of breaking parole. My suspicions were confirmed when I noticed a detail on Mirage's helmet earlier this week." He said, walking up to Mirage and placing the rebuilt cerebro shell up to the indent on Mirage's helmet. "As you can see, it fits perfectly." Rewind walked up to Mirage and Ratchet, capturing Ratchet's example on camera and projecting it for Ultra Magnus, who stroked his chin and nodded.

"Go on." Ultra Magnus instructed Ratchet.

"The day before the incident, Mirage engaged in combat with the Insecticons, alone. And when he returned, he was not himself." Ratchet continued.

"It's true." Hound noted.

"Not himself at all." Sunstreaker nodded.

"So, it's highly likely that during the attack, Mirage was subdued and placed under the control of Bombshell." Ratchet stated. "Therefore, his breaking of parole was sabotage."

"You make a good case, field mech Ratchet." Ultra Magnus remarked. "Perhaps you should go into law."

"Ultra Magnus, if you may, we aren't finished." Perceptor spoke up. "We have reason to believe that Mirage's initial offense was sabotage not unlike this."

"Rewind, do you still have your video feed of Mirage on the tower?" Brainstorm asked.

"Do I? You bet!" Rewind nodded, literally rewinding the video feed back years to find the exact moment, choosing to stop at the moment he had told Mirage and Optimus about earlier, A video of Sentinel exiting the wash racks without his abdomen/pelvic plating. A high pitch scream was audible from the video feed, an eruption of chuckling came from the court and jury, even Ultra Magnus uttered a light chuckle.

"Objection!" Sentinel barked.

"Objection overruled." Ultra Magnus replied. "Rewind, the _real_ evidence in question, please?" Rewind nodded and rewinded farther back for the video feed of that fateful night.

"Here we go." Rewind said as the video played from the beginning. They watched Rewind approach Mirage, they watched Mirage stand up and face Mirage, and then, at the moment a IPD officer tackled Mirage and the back of Mirage's helmet was visible, Ratchet yelled for Rewind to pause the video. And there, right there, a cerebro shell. A gasp overcame the court and Sentinel Prime stammered, the evidence was right there to set Mirage free.

"Well, clearly this has been tampered with!" Sentinel exclaimed.

"As surely as I stand before you today, this video is accurate." Rewind stated.

"And we checked the logs." Skyfire said. "Bombshell and his two Insecticons had escaped from Fort Max just two decacycles before that very night, it is suspected that in a scheme to take revenge, they put Mirage under their control."

"If I may, your honor." Mirage spoke. "The phenomena I experienced when reawakening from a cerebro shell just this week was the exact same as when I awoke in prison after that night." The jury murmured at the newfound evidence, and the council did too, in fact, the only bot not murmuring was Sentinel, who was busy glaring at Mirage and Optimus Prime.

"The court has reached a new decision." Ultra Magnus spoke."On behalf of the newfound evidence, Mirage is not found guilty of breaking parole." He said, his gavel making contact with the stand. "In fact, all previous charges against Mirage have been lifted. Case dismissed." He said, hitting his gavel once more. Applause erupted from the court, Optimus Prime's team especially. Mirage practically jumped for joy at the news. Instead, his lawyer did physically.

"Wa hoo!" Fizzle exclaimed. "D'aha! Thanks kid! This is gonna look great for me! I'll be the most sought out lawyer on Cybertron!" He laughed.

"You didn't even do anything!" Ratchet remarked.

"Who cares?" Fizzle laughed. "I'm the lawyer on the winning side of possibly the most famous court case in Cybertron history!" He exclaimed, prancing out of the court. Ratchet sighed and looked to Wheeljack and the other scientists.

"Thanks." Ratchet said to them.

"No, thank you Ratchet, I thought I was done for." Mirage said, gratefully.

"Don't worry, saving your aft is just part of a medic's work." Ratchet chuckled.

"I think this calls for an after-party! Let's go to Maccadam's!" Trailbreaker cheered, secretly looking for an excuse to drink. As the group went to leave the court, Prowl took a look at his brother, who was in the midst of getting chewed out by Sentinel Prime. After Sentinel walked away, Prowl walked over to Bluestreak and Cliffjumper.

"Oh... hey Prowl." Bluestreak said.

"You must be pleased." Cliffjumper said spitefully toward Prowl.

"Pleased that my friend isn't going to prison? Yes. Yes I am." Prowl nodded. "Listen, we're going to MacCadams, perhaps you two would like to join us?" He offered.

"Really?" Bluestreak lightened up a bit.

"Yeah." Prowl nodded.

* * *

"Young Mirage, I am sorry for this misunderstanding." Mirage received apology the next day as Optimus Prime prepared to leave from none other than Alpha Trion himself. "Know that from this day forth, you have a friend in the Autobot Supreme Council."

"Thank you, sir." Mirage bowed respectively.

"Yes, Mirage." Ultra Magnus nodded. "We are sorry for your wrongful imprisonment. We will be sure to offer you compensation."

"No need." Mirage shook his head. "Well, maybe if you could demote that Sentinel fellow down a few pegs that'd be nice." Mirage suggested.

"Well, I'm afraid we can't do that." Ultra Magnus said. "Though, I will definitely take his word with a grain of salt from now on."

"You know Mirage," Optimus began, walking over to Ultra Magnus and Alpha Trion. "You were sent on our team for probation purposes, since you're officially free now, you don't technically have to return with us. The choice is yours, Mirage."

"You know, Optimus, Earth isn't really as bad as I used to think." Mirage said. "I think I'll be coming back with you."

"I was hoping you'd say that." Optimus nodded. At the entry ramp of the ship, Prowl was having a little conversation of his own, with Bluestreak and Cliffjumper.

"I know it didn't seem it, but I was pretty happy to see you again." Prowl admitted.

"It's been a while." Bluestreak chuckled. "I'm sorry I was kind of a jerk to you back on Earth, it was just nice to get a win, my career was riding on this mission."

"So was mine." Cliffjumper noted.

"Wait... Mirage was deemed innocent." Prowl noted.

"Yeah." Bluestreak nodded. "We're fired."

"Sentinel had it with us, so now we're off the IPD." Cliffjumper said. "But hey, glad you guys had a win."

"Well..." Prowl thought. "Maybe you'd wanna come with us?" Prowl offered. "After all, you've already got Earth modes, and we really need all the help we can get." Prowl said. "We'd be happy to have a couple extra sets of hands."

"Well... I don't know." Cliffjumper shrugged. "What's Earth got that Cybertron doesn't?"

"Decepticons for you to crush." Prowl said, Cliffjumper perked up, that was all he needed. He looked to his partner to see what he thought.

"Whaddya say, Blue, wanna go to Earth?" Cliffjumper asked.

"You betcha." Bluestreak grinned. "Thanks bro." He smiled at Prowl.

"No problem, just happy to help a brother out." Prowl replied, returning the smile.


	18. Starscream's Brigade

**Author's note:** After a long while of Starscream being reduced to cameos, he and his crew are back and ready to kick some afts and take some names.

* * *

Chapter 18: Starscream's Brigade

"Alright, listen up." Starscream spoke, marching up and down the shore of the island with Quickstrike, Blitzwing, and the five released Decepticons. "The time is right for us to take back what's rightfully ours... Onslaught, I take it your troops are online and operational." He turned to the tallest of the five released Decepticons. He was tall, about Starscream's height. Blue, green and gray with twin cannons mounted on his back. Onslaught was a well respected member of the Decepticons, serving as one of Megatron's top generals back during the war for Cybertron until he and his team supposedly went "MIA".

"Yes, commander Starscream." Onslaught spoke, his voice ringing with an accent not unlike a Russian Earthling's.

"You betcha, Screamy." A Decepticon who was a pale orange with hints of purple and a large cannon on his arm said with a smirk on his boxy face, which had no real definition within his black boxy helmet.

"Stay in line, Swindle. Or I'll take you out of it for good." A robot Swindle's height threatened. He was bright cyan and blue with helicopter propeller blades on his back, red visor and emotionless face plate for his visage.

"Yeah yeah, Vortex. We've been around you long enough not to be scared of your little threats." The second tallest of the group scoffed, he was primarily brownish green, tank treads on his arms and legs and a large turret jutting up from his back.

"Yeah, he's second only to you when it comes to talking out of one's aft, huh Brawl?" A brown and purple Decepticon with jet wings on his back who was standing by Vortex chuckled.

"Blast Off, quiet." Onslaught ordered, tired of his team talking while Starscream was giving orders. "My apologies, Starscream. Please continue."

"Megatron abandoned Blitzwing, Quickstrike, and I here." Starscream stated. "And when you all crashed here, years and years ago, Megatron wrote you off as dead, not even sending a scout team out to find you. You're all lucky I found you when I did." Starscream remarked.

"Well uh, we kinda found 'em together, wouldn't y'say boss?" Quickstrike asked.

"As I was saying," Starscream continued, caring not for Quickstrike's interjection. "Megatron obviously doesn't care about you. If he doesn't care about one of his most elite strike teams of the war, what does that say about how he cares for the Decepticon cause?" He asked rhetorically. "It is now time for us to form an assault on Megatron, Shockwave, Soundwave, and all of the Decepticons who left us for dead." Starscream stated. "So, are you with me?" He asked. Quickstrike and Blitzwing were quick to cheer on their leader, who they had been impressively loyal to for all this time. Onslaught and his team exchanged glances. They had a history with Starscream back on Cybertron. They had enough of a history to understand that he wasn't exactly the most reliable Decepticon around. However, he had given them a new lease on life, they were thankful for that.

"We're in, Starscream." Onslaught nodded. "Come, let us go."

"From this day forth, we are Decepticons no more." Starscream stated. "Now, we are... Starseekers. Starseekers, transform and conquer!" He ordered. Starscream transformed, his jet mode looking proper once more thanks to spare parts discovered on the ship. Blitzwing transformed into his jet mode and Quickstrike clung to it. Blast Off and Vortex, having aerial based alternate modes transformed and took off with Starscream and Blitzwing, where the cannons on Onslaught's back shifted down and became a jet pack, Swindle and Brawl climbed onto him and the group took off, ready for revenge.

Meanwhile at Decepticon headquarters, the Decepticon warriors were fraternizing among each other while Megatron, Soundwave, and Shockwave were having a meeting of the minds for their next attack. The newest member of the group was Thundercracker, having been promoted to the leader of the Seekers.

"Soundwave, any insight on the location of the Autobot's headquarters?" Megatron asked.

"No, Lord Megatron." Soundwave shook his head. "The Autobots seem to have a signal cloaking technology around their base."

"Perhaps we should have Bombshell take control of an Autobot and have him send information to us from within the base." Shockwave suggested.

"Or we could, uh..." Thundercracker began, Shockwave, Soundwave, and Megatron looked to him. The gaze from his superiors made him stop in his verbal tracks for a moment. "Uh... well, maybe... one of us could follow 'em back after a battle, Laserbeak or someone small like that." He shrugged. Soundwave, Shockwave, and Megatron exchanged glances, neither saying anything.

"That's... actually a pretty good idea, Thundercracker." Megatron nodded approvingly. "Certainly more competent than the mech you're replacing."

"I... If it's alright, Lord Megatron, I'd rather not be seen as his replacement, just... a Decepticon who stepped in and filled the place that he left empty." Thundercracker replied.

"That's... literally what replacing someone is." Megatron replied flatly. "Decepticons, meeting adjourned." He said, standing from where he sat. Just as the four Decepticons stood up, someone else came running in to the room.

"Megatron!" Barricade yelled as he ran in, joined by Blackarachnia.

"What is it?" Megatron asked.

"Eight signals coming this way. Decepticon signals." Blackarachnia answered.

"Wonderful." Megatron grinned, hoping even more Decepticons had been on Earth and were now making their way back to their leader. "Have they identified themselves?" He asked. Barricade murmured to himself and shuffled his pedes, not entirely wanting to tell Megatron who identified themselves.

"Yeah. It's your old pal Starscream, along with Blitzwing, Quickstrike..." Blackarachnia began.

"And what looks like the Combaticons." Barricade blurted out.

"The Combaticons!?" Megatron exclaimed. "No, that's not possible, the Combaticons died millions of years ago." Megatron was sure of it. After all, it was a suicide mission he had them embark on, sure that it would lead to their demise. He had always worried about them coming after his job far more than he had ever worried about Starscream, because unlike Starscream, the Combaticons were smart. Even Brawl, the dumbest of the whole unit was still smart compared to the average Cybertronian.

"Yeah, the Combaticons aren't going to be too happy to see you again, huh Megatron?" Barricade asked. "Onslaught probably already clued in to the whole suicide mission type thing."

"Don't you think I'm painfully aware of that!?" Megatron barked. He pinched his digits over his optics and uttered a sigh. "We have two options, act like that mission never happened, welcome the Combaticons and the others back in, or put up a fight." He stated. "Well, council, what will it be?" He turned to Shockwave, Soundwave, and Thundercracker. Before anyone could answer, there was what sounded like a loud crash and explosion outside of the base, then the sound evolved into hollering and laser fire.

"It appears that my question has been answered for you." Megatron remarked. "Decepticons, attack." He ordered, leading the group out into the main hall of the base, where sure enough, Starscream was there with his new troops.

"Megatron, I was hoping you'd have the ball bearings to come out and face me." Starscream grinned.

"And I was hoping you'd be stupid enough to rear your ugly visage once more." Megatron replied coyly, he charged at the former Seeker and tackled the jet, laying in punched one by one to his former SIC. "How many times do you have to plot these stupid attempts before you learn your lesson?" Megatron asked before suddenly he was blasted off of Starscream.

"About as many times as you have eliminated those who you believed posed a threat to you." Onslaught answered, stepping towards Megatron, cannons smoking from firing at the Decepticon leader. "You wouldn't stop until every Decepticon that you thought even looked at you the wrong way was taken out."

"Oh, Onslaught, how I missed your constant grasping for moral high ground." Megatron sneered as he stood to his pedes. "You thought I tried to have you killed?" Megatron asked, beginning to spin a web of lies in attempt to ease the situation over, after all, if he played his cards right, he'd have his top guerrilla warfare team back. "Seriously, how stupid do you have to be to believe that?"

"You were always afraid of us, always paranoid we'd take you out and take control for ourselves." Vortex replied. "I didn't know why we didn't do it, the Deceptions would have won the war if it weren't for you!"

"And who told you that?" Megatron smirked. "Starscream? _Very_ reliable source of information that mech is." Megatron was good at winning people over, his words were almost more effective at resolving conflicts than the one cannon arsenal on his right arm. "Starscream is a traitor. He is responsible for the destruction of the Allspark." He lied. He saw shock on the faces of the Combaticons.

"WHAT!?" Brawl bellowed, turning to Starscream. "You destroyed the Allspark!?"

"What!? No!" Starscream exclaimed, backing away. "Blitzwing, Quickstrike! Tell them that is not so!"

"Well, I can't exactly deny that's the case, but at the same time, it'd be wrong of me to say that it was what happened, that whole day was really kind of a blur to me..." Quickstrike rambled, whether that be his actual sentiments or the fact Soundwave had his blaster up against his back was speaking for him was unclear. The same was the case for Blitzwing, who was put in a similar position by Shockwave.

Starscream's visage grew crestfallen and turned to the angry Combaticons. "Onslaught, Swindle... Blast Off... I set you free! You'd still be rotting in that shuttle had I not freed you."

"And for that, we are grateful, Starscream." Onslaught nodded.

"Make no mistake of that." Blast Off said. "But, Starscream, if what Megatron says is true, the bad sort of outweighs the good here."

"You have got to be kidding me." Starscream remarked. "Combaticons! He left you for dead! He doesn't care about you!"

"Pleading doesn't become you, Starscream, don't try it." Megatron said, the Combaticons secured to be on his side once more. "Combaticons, welcome back to the Decepticons." He welcomed the group of five. "Blitzwing, Quickstrike, I'm offering you both one more chance, will you take it?" He asked.

"Yes!" Quickstrike was quick to exclaim.

"Yes, Lord Megatron, please take us back!" Blitzwing nodded cowardly.

"It seems your reign of power was short lived." Megatron smirked at Starscream, who dared not retaliate since every Decepticon gun was pointed at him. "Shockwave, take the Combaticons and the others to be rebranded."

"What about Starscream?" Scrapper asked. "Want me to melt him down for spare parts?"

"No." Megatron answered. "Place Starscream in a detainment cell, he should be familiar with such a place." He snickered, and just like that, all of Starscream's hopes were dashed, Megatron had taken away his troops and threw him in a cell. Now, it was only a matter of time before Megatron disposed of him. Starscream sighed and slouched down in his cell, this was the lowest point he had ever felt, his entire life seemed to always build him up for what just dropped to inevitable disappointment, while his only talent seemed to be making anyone close to him resent him.

* * *

"Two special forces teams for you to work with, Shockwave." Megatron chuckled as he conversed with Shockwave in his laboratory. "This must please you greatly."

"Yes, the ultimate goal in mind when creating the Stunticons will be ready as soon as I work out a few minor calibrations. Now knowing I get to implement such technology on two teams pleases me greatly." Shockwave answered. "You do realize that in theory we could use anyone we wanted so long as their height and weight coincided with the schematics." He suggested.

"Let us not get ahead of ourselves." Megatron told him as he held up an empty helmet, gazing at it as if he were Hamlet holding up the skull of poor Yorick. "Two of these gestalts you've described should do fine, especially when the Autobots have none."

"The way I see it, there ain't such a thing as too much overkill." Scrapper spoke up as he tampered with a blaster. "But hey, you're the boss."

"Indeed." Megatron nodded. "Speaking of my position, I believe I need to speak with Starscream."

"I'll get an urn ready." Scrapper muttered as Megatron stepped out of the laboratory. Rumble and Frenzy stood outside the cell where Starscream pouted, Megatron dismissed the two and entered, unsure of exactly how this was going to play out.

"Starscream." Megatron said. He saw him, he was pathetic, he sat there, curled up on the metal floor, how pathetic. "Starscream, get up." He ordered. "You'll not find whatever scraps of your dignity that remain down there. I wish to speak with you."

"Why are you humoring me, Megatron?" Starscream asked as he stood to face Megatron. "Why do you want to converse with me before unleashing whatever punishment you have in mind onto me?"

"Punishment?" Megatron asked. "Do you deserve punishment, Starscream?" Starscream whined and took the end of Megatron's fusion cannon with his servos, holding it so his face was practically in the barrel.

"Oh, just do it already..." Starscream's voice echoed in the cannon. Megatron didn't like this, sure, he was going to beat Starscream to a pulp, but he at least wanted to make a game of it, he knew he'd have to keep talking before Starscream at least made the first move.

"Starscream, I understand you, I see a lot of myself in you," Megatron paced through the cell. "You and I started of the same, young, eager, a drive to see change in a world of oppression towards our classes, but that's about where the similarities between us end. What amazes me is that despite all the potential you have to be a cunning leader, you always manage to frag yourself over one way or another, whether it be choosing to act at the wrong time, or just an outright inability to lead." He said bluntly. "How was it, Starscream?" He asked. "Did you enjoy those months I left you to at least pretend to lead something? You didn't make much of it, did you?" He chuckled. "And when you finally decided to act, your army was coerced to abandon you in mere moments." He uttered a small laugh before whispering into Starscream's audio receptors.

"All. Hail. Starscream." He whispered. "There, you heard it, I know that's all you've ever wanted to hear for your entire miserable life." He snickered, "Now, I-" before he could continue, Starscream had decided he'd had enough.

"STOP IT!" Starscream hollered, laying all of his fire unto Megatron with multiple heavy blasts. "Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!" Starscream saw Megatron laying there in the cell, smoke coming from where he had fired on him, Starscream wasn't the smartest Cybertronian, but he knew that was only enough to anger Megatron. "Oh no..." He murmured, thinking fast, he blasted a hole in the cell's back wall and escaped to the outside. Transforming to his jet mode and flying as fast as he could.

"Megatron!" Acid Storm exclaimed, being a part of the crowd that had amassed to watch. "Want us to go after him?"

"No, Acid Storm." Megatron shook his head. "This is _my_ fight." He answered as he took off to the sky, being equipped with boosters in his pedes.

"This is more like it!" Megatron bellowed a laugh as he trailed the Seeker. Starscream saw Megatron flying behind him, he knew he was doomed. Regardless of how aware he was of his fate, he started to accelerate his thrusters and kept the chase going. Starscream flew over the city, Megatron no more than thirty feet behind him at all times, Starscream maneuvered his ways through the city streets, dodging skyscraper by skyscraper, hoping that Megatron wouldn't have the reflexes to dodge and turn like he could, after all, for millions of years he had been the best flyer on Cybertron.

"Where are you leading me, Starscream?" Megatron called. "Please tell me you're taking me to your island of domain, I would just _love_ to see your ruling chambers."

"SHUT UP!" Starscream snarled as he flew faster, no more than thirty meters above the roads, the chase catching the eye of many pedestrians and drivers, Captain Fanzone included.

"Holy Columbo!" Fanzone remarked. /Fanzone to Autobot HQ, we got Decepticons overhead, Megatron _and_ Starscream!/ He radioed to Autobot headquarters, alerting them of the chase in the skies.

Having enough, Starscream transformed in midair and hovered, awaiting Megatron, as he caught up, Starscream made a heavy swing and knocked the leader back with a hard punch. Megatron crashed into a large building. Seconds went by, Megatron hadn't moved.

"Megatron?" Starscream asked.

"STARSCREAM!" Megatron bellowed, charging out and tackling Starscream in the air. "That's enough." He stated, throwing Starscream down to the ground, crashing down in the center of a park.

"Not dead." Megatron noted as he observed the whimpering Starscream, laying in the middle of a crater made by his crash. "Good." He noted. "This saddens me, Starscream." Starscream murmured something ineligible in response. "This saddens me because you aren't putting up a fight, you're just accepting this. Like you... want this to be over, you want your story to be over, you want me to destroy you."

"I do!" Starscream whined. "Please!"

"There's the rub." Megatron noted. "You look like Starscream, you move like him, you're about as pathetic as Starscream... but you aren't Starscream." He said, picking Starscream up by his neck. "Starscream could talk his way out of anything, you couldn't even talk yourself into this beating." He grimaced. By this point, Decepticons had followed to watch the fight, overlooking it from the tall buildings of the city.

"This looks like a mess. Should we stop them?" Wildrider remarked.

"Do that, and I teleport my fist inside your abdomen and pull out the first thing I grasp." Skywarp threatened.

"You could not even begin to compare with whom you once were." Megatron informed a painfully aware Starsream. "Let alone become anything like myself, I free slaves, implant ideology, liberate cities." He explained. "You grab a few soldiers dumb enough to follow you, and run into a situation you just aren't ready for."

"If you're so much better than me, why don't you just end me!?" Starscream yelled at Megatron, practically begging for it.

"Because as much as you need me to keep you in line, I need you, Starscream." Megatron answered. "You're a competent warrior, you keep those bellow you in check through terror and bullying, there are many aspects of your personality that make you a more ideal Decepticon than I am, that is why I'm keeping you around. But I can't just let you go either." He explained. "For, it is the worry that one day you'll get enough moronic soldiers to follow you that keeps me alert of your doings, I need to keep an eye on you. You remind me not to get cocky, to keep my guard up. Thundercracker, Shockwave, Soundwave... none of my troops can do that for me like you can." He elaborated. "So let it be known, Starscream, that whether you like it or not, you are reinstated as a Decepticon and given your old position as my second in command, along with leading the Seekers."

"Th... Thank..." Starscream choked out of his mouth before being silenced.

"Don't thank me. Instead, repay me." Megatron answered. "Tired of building yourself up to failure? Work _with_ me. Not against me. Rule all of our Decepticons... but one." He pointed to himself. "Join me in obliterating the Autobot scourge once and for all."

"Yes... Lord Megatron." Starscream nodded. Megatron released the grasp he had on his neck and Starscream dropped to his knees.

"Get up. You won't find your dignity in the earth and soil either." Megatron ordered. Starscream stood up and faced Megatron. "Get your pathetic chassis back to base. Now." He ordered. Starscream nodded timidly and transformed, flying back to the base. By now, a large crowd of SWAT teams had encircled the park, with them were Optimus Prime and a few other Autobots.

"Megatron." Optimus addressed him.

"Spare me, Optimus." Megatron ordered. "This is not your fight, this was a matter for the Decepticons and the Decepticons alone. I pose no threat to this pathetic city today." Megatron elaborated. "Now, go stop a train heist or something, Orion Pax. If you still remember that name." He sneered, taking to the skies once more and flying off.

"Let's go after him!" Bumblebee said eagerly.

"No, Bumblebee." Optimus ordered. "As much as I hate to say it, Megatron is right. That was a matter for Decepticons and Decepticons alone."

"He's right, Autobots, transform and roll out." Ironhide addressed the Autobots, they did as they were told. The only Autobot standing behind was Optimus.

"I do indeed still remember that name," Optimus said to himself. "... Megatronus." He concluded, transforming and driving off after the crew of Autobots.


	19. Old Friend

**Author's note:** This chapter is gonna be heavily set in the past. This should be fun!

* * *

Chapter 19: Old Friend

"Spare me, Optimus." Megatron ordered as he was surrounded by Optimus, a handful of his Autobots, and a human SWAT team. "This is not your fight, this was a matter for the Decepticons and the Decepticons alone. I pose no threat to this pathetic city today." Megatron elaborated. "Now, go stop a train heist or something, Orion Pax. If you still remember that name." He sneered, taking to the skies once more and flying off.

"Let's go after him!" Bumblebee said eagerly.

"No, Bumblebee." Optimus ordered. "As much as I hate to say it, Megatron is right. That was a matter for Decepticons and Decepticons alone."

"He's right, Autobots, transform and roll out." Ironhide addressed the Autobots, they did as they were told. The only Autobot standing behind was Optimus.

"I do indeed still remember that name," Optimus said to himself. "... Megatronus." He concluded, transforming and driving off after the crew of Autobots. Yes, he still remembered Orion Pax, just as well as he remembered Megatronus.

* * *

Megatronus was a natural born leader, he had every quality that a young Orion Pax admired, he was brave, strong, had remarkable endurance and was incredibly intelligent. What Orion admired most was the fact he was the biggest name on Cybertron however. Megatronus began as a miner, who decided to try his hand as a gladiator and quickly rose up the ranks to becoming the greatest fighter Cybertron had.

Orion Pax never involved himself in watching gladiatorial sports, but the femme he was courting at the time, Elita-1 was quite interested in Megatronus, and so was Orion's best friend Dion. And so one day, when the gladiators were in the area, lest Orion let Dion and Elita-1 go out alone with each other, he accompanied them to one of the fights.

"Y'got us great seats Pax." Orion's friend Dion said as they sat down. Dion was a spry and scrappy young mech, built from an earlier version of Bumblebee's body type and was blue and pale yellow in color. "Woo! Megatronus!" He cheered, pumping his fists.

"Dion, Megatronus isn't until the end." Elita-1 reminded the short mech with a little giggle. Elita-1 was tall as far as femmes were concerned, in fact, she was taller than Orion, primarily coated in various shades of pink colored plating. She and Orion had met when they both had applied for the same internship under Alpha Trion. Elita ended up getting the internship, but Alpha Trion offered Orion a job as his data clerk and Orion couldn't refuse the opportunity.

"I know, I'm just pumped, aren't you, Orion?" Dion asked.

"Sure." Orion nodded. "It's a good opportunity to try something new, and I always enjoy such an opportunity."

"I kinda wish you just left it at sure, nerd." Dion replied. "I'm gonna go get some snacks, you guys want anything?" He asked as he stood up from his seat, perfect time to do so since the event hadn't begun yet.

"Engex shards with extra axle grease." Orion answered. "Medium."

"I'm not hungry." Elita said. "Thanks though."

"Right, I'll get a large for you Pax." Dion winked at him as he left for the concession stand. Elita let out a little sigh as she leaned against Orion's shoulder.

"Thanks Paxy, I know you didn't want to do this." Elita said to him.

"Hey, I may not love gladiator sports, but I love you." Orion smiled. "I know you didn't enjoy Ultra Magnus' lecture at Iacon University, but you still went with me to that, so it's only fair."

"Oh thank Primus you said it yourself, if you didn't I was going to say it for you." Elita giggled. Orion uttered a laugh in response and not long after Dion returned with the snacks, the show had begun and fighters began to fight.

By the end of the show, the mech who was the main challenger of the evening stepped out and beckoned Megatronus, this mech was a behemoth to put it lightly. He stood tall and wide, covered in gray and gold plating with a black helmet. "Megatronus!" He hollered. "If you've got the bearings, step out and face me, GRIMLOCK!" He called out with a loud growl, riling the crowd up.

"Grimlock seems cool." Orion remarked.

"It'll be even cooler when he gets his aft kicked by Megatronus!" Dion said excitedly.

"Megatronus would need a giant cannon on his arm to take down Grimlock." Orion said skeptically.

"Megatronus may not be as big as Grimlock, but it'll be an easy feat." Elita told Orion, and just as she said that, applause erupted. Megatronus must have stepped into the pit, eager to take down the challenger. The mech was tall and gray with black shins, his body adorned still with the regulation caution tape style reflective stripes of a miner. The mech called out to the crowd for applause like a true showman before the fight begun, and when the fight started, Grimlock charged at the mech who stood firm, and just when Grimlock was ready to clobber the gray mech, Megatronus bailed for the mech's legs and tripped the mech, then grabbed him by his pedes and swung him as if he were throwing a hammer. He released Grimlock and sent the gladiator flying, crashing into the wall of the pit hard, shaking the stadium.

"Had enough, mech?" Megatronus called to Grimlock, who gradually stood to his pedes.

"NEVER!" Grimlock snarled, charging once more at Megatronus. Megatronus leaped into the air, his right servo forming a spiked flail, with a mighty swing, he blew Grimlock to the ground once more. Grimlock had strength that could rival Megatronus', the issue was that he was, to put it bluntly, stupid. The audience started to count down, if Grimlock didn't get up by the time they got to 'zero', the match was over.

"Wow." Orion remarked.

"I know!" Dion exclaimed. "Ain't he something!? I tell you, that guy could rule Cybertron if he wanted to!" He laughed.

* * *

"Indeed." Optimus remarked to himself, reflecting on what his old friend had said as he drove into base and transformed, walking through the gates and sighing to himself quietly.

"Hey, Optimus." Ironhide nodded at him when he saw he had returned. "Y'alright? You sorta lagged behind."

"I'm fine, old friend." Optimus nodded. "I was simply... reflecting."

"Mm. What Megatron said to you, huh?" Ironhide remarked. "Figured."

"Indeed." Optimus nodded. "Ironhide, let me know of any Decepticon activity in the area, alright?" He asked.

"You got it, Prime." Ironhide saluted as Prime walked off, looking for one bot on his team in particular: Skyfire. Skyfire, at this given time, was on break, lounging in the recreational hall and overlooking Sideswipe and Bumblebee playing video games.

"So... there is no goal at all in this game?" Skyfire asked as the two virtual sprites relentlessly beat the tar out of each other. "All you do is beat the other one senseless?"

"I know! Isn't it great?" Sideswipe exclaimed.

"That _isn't_ what I meant." Skyfire replied. Before he could continue, Optimus stepped in and tapped him on the shoulder. "Oh, yes, Optimus?" He asked, turning to face his leader. "What can I do for you, sir?" He asked him.

"Nothing, Skyfire." Optimus replied, looking up at the one bot on his team who was taller than him. "I just thought that I should inform you that Starscream has returned to the Decepticons." He said. "At least, looking at what I had encountered today, Megatron usually welcomes him back with a hearty pounding."

"That's certainly how he does it." Skyfire nodded. "That's what that call from Fanzone was about?"

"Yes." Optimus nodded. "No threat, Megatron and Starscream both left the moment Megatron realized we had arrived. It was a matter for Decepticons and Decepticons alone, at least that's what Megatron had told me." He shrugged. "I just thought I should inform you, considering your history with Starscream."

"Thank you, Optimus." Skyfire nodded respectfully. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious of his whereabouts."

"The world is certainly better of with Starscream being kept in check." Optimus noted, turning and leaving the recreational hall. "That's all, Skyfire, you can go about your day. I have a feeling the Decepticons won't be making any more moves today."

"Thanks Prime." Skyfire replied before following Prime out to the roaming grounds of the base. "Optimus, if it's alright, I may go out for a fly for a little bit."

"Alright." Optimus nodded. "Just in case there are still Decepticons out and about, be careful."

"I'm plenty capable." Skyfire replied. "Thank you, Optimus."

"You're welcome." Optimus nodded. "Don't be out too long." He instructed as Skyfire before he took to the sky and transformed to jet mode.

As Skyfire flew through the sky, he couldn't help but think about Prime's words. "The world is certainly better off with Starscream being kept in check." Optimus was certainly right in saying that. That mech was unpredictable, he always was unpredictable. He was a mech with unbelievable spark, it was something Skyfire always seemed to admire, he had to admit. Starscream was always determined to a fault.

* * *

/Starscream to Skyfire, come in Skyfire!/ Skyfire received through his comm link, millions of years ago now. Almost six million years ago, to be exact. /Skyfire, you will not believe what I had just found./

/Don't tell me,/ Skyfire commed back from their shared laboratory, judging by his friend's excitement it must have been something big. /You're not about to tell me that you found uncontaminated Diaclonite, are you?/

/Yes!/ Starscream commed back. /Not just some, but a whole crystal as big as your helm!/

/Well, I won't believe you until you bring it back here./ Skyfire teased. /Diaclonite is more rare than a pure energon crystal, I highly doubt you found a uncontaminated Diaclonite crystal as big as my helm./

/Get ready to eat your words, Skyfire!/ Starscream laughed as he disconnected the comm link. Skyfire simply chuckled and got back to his work. A little less than an hour later, Starscream returned with the crystal and set it down on their counter with grace and care, sure not to damage it.

"Ha! See, Skyfire?" He asked, grinning proudly. "Diaclonite. I'd dare say it's even bigger than your helm."

"Congratulations," Skyfire chuckled, gathering equipment to carefully examine the specimen. "My word, it's perfectly uncontaminated." He said upon closer inspection.

"What? You didn't take my word for it?" Starscream asked.

"Hm, you have a shoddy track record for accurate information." Skyfire chuckled. "Remember that time on Velocitron?" He asked.

"Okay, to be fair," Starscream began to counter before SKyfire continued.

"Then there was that one time in Praxus, that mishap on Caminus was on you, can't forget about when we were in the mines of Kaon." Skyfire went on. "Oh! And when we were back in university, and that project that was our final exam in Rung's class-"

"Okay, that's enough, Skyfire." Starscream said flatly, pride seemingly wounded judging by the look on his face and the fact his wings drooped ever so slightly. Skyfire chuckled and gave his friend a light punch in the shoulder.

"Oh, don't mope now." Skyfire said. "Tell you what, you and I go out to MacCadams tonight to celebrate your findings, I'll buy." His offer seemed to make Starscream perk up, seeing his expression change and his wings go back up to where they normally rested. "Good. Now, what do you say we get a better look at our new specimen?"

"You bet." Starscream grinned.

Starscream and Skyfire were the best of friends for the longest time, they had met as sparklings and became friends nearly instantly. Both of them always had a keen interest in science and they had studied that field together, always hoping to discover the next big thing for Cybertron's technical advancement. They both had their different reasons for it, Skyfire was eager to help his planet, which more and more recently had seemed to be in a state of decline, whereas Starscream was out to prove himself. His sire had discouraged him from pursuing science at a young age, telling him he was forged to be a courier, as before the war, Seekers had the luxurious task of delivering parcels and shipments across Cybertron due to the fact an aviation based alternate mode was naturally faster than a ground based vehicle alternate mode. Starscream loathed the idea of being stuck in one place simply due to the way he was forged, so he studied hard and became a scientist along with his best friend, despite the lack of support from his two brothers and sire.

When they arrived at MacCaddams, they took a booth and waited scanned the menu datapads at the table. Neither of them were party bots so it wasn't like they were about to get fendered, but they wanted to have a little fun, a scientist's life didn't consist of much socialization, so they were eager to at least have a little fun when they could.

"When was the last time we had a night on the town?" Skyfire asked with a little chuckle.

"The last time was a few decacycles ago," Starscream replied. "And it was only because we let that other mech use our lab and we had to vacate the premises when he started a fire and nearly blew up the lab." He chortled. "I think we can both agree, that's the last time we let Wheeljack use our lab."

"Here here." Skyfire nodded. He was about to continue, but he kept getting interrupted by the group in the booth beside them, who were talking quite loudly.

"That was so cool! My favorite part was when he picked that mech up and threw him across the stadium!" A voice exclaimed, full of excitement.

"Well, my favorite part was when he slapped a mech in the face with his own servo!" A femme's voice exclaimed as they conversed.

"What are they talking about?" Skyfire asked.

"I don't know, I just know they're being quite loud." Starscream huffed, he got up from his booth and turned to the group behind him. "Excuse me, do you mind?" He asked. He received blank stares from the hyper blue and yellow mini bot who sat at the far end from him, whereas the red and blue mech who hadn't made a sound was quick to apologize.

"My apologies, they were just excited." He said. "My name is Orion Pax, this is Elita-1, and this is our friend Dion. We just left a gladiator event, and rumor has it that Megatronus is coming here for a drink."

"Megatronus?" Starscream asked. "Who is that?"

"Only the coolest mech on Cybertron!" The mini bot, Dion exclaimed. "I can't believe you haven't heard of him, he was this miner from Kaon, but one day he was all like: "Frag this! I don't wanna be some stinkin' miner just because I was built like this!" So now he's a gladiator!" Dion explained. "Really stuck it to the mech, I admire that."

"Huh." Starscream remarked, hearing the story of this Megatronus. "Well, try and keep it down." He told them, returning to his booth.

"Megatronus, huh?" Skyfire asked. "I heard of him, I think Shockwave told me something about him."

"He's certainly a big name, that's for sure." Starscream remarked. "I can't help but be enticed by his story, reminds me of my own."

"Well, maybe if he does come in here, go and have a chat with him." Skyfire said. "I'm sure he'd appreciate to hear he's an inspiration."

"I never said he was an inspiration." Starscream replied. "But I may introduce myself."

"Hey! There he is!" Dion's voice piped up from behind Starscream. "Megatronus! Over here!" He called, Starscream and Skyfire looked and saw the mech enter, he was tall and imposing, but he was also clearly exhausted after a long day, judging by the way he shrugged the calling fan off and just made haste for the bar.

"Go on, introduce yourself." Skyfire encouraged Starscream.

"No no," Starscream shook his helm. "He doesn't look like he wants anybody bothering him."

"Just go anyway!" Skyfire encouraged. "Mac doesn't stand for violence in here anyway, so even if you get him mad, he can't do anything." He reasoned.

"Why is it _I'm_ being the rational one here?" Starscream remarked. "Fine, I guess I'll at least say hello." He said as he slowly walked toward the bar and sat down by the mech.

"I don't do autographs." Megatronus quickly growled when he could sense Starscream beside him. "I also don't do interviews, how would you like it if I sat down beside you and started asking personal questions?"

"My apologies." Starscream said, his tone shy. "I just wanted to say that I know your story, and as a Seeker who pursues science, it's inspirational." Starscream had just told Skyfire he wasn't inspired, but that wasn't the case.

Megatronus looked at the Seeker, his sneer softening some as he sat up, rather than the hunch he had been posing with since he sat down. "Well, I can't say I've ever had somebody approach me and tell me that before." He noted. "It's nice to have somebody approach me and say something intelligent rather than shove some piece of scrap metal in my faceplate for me to sign."

Dion quickly hid the piece of scrap metal he had gathered from the event he had just attended.

"I can imagine that would grow quite tedious." Starscream said. "But, I'm sure there are many more Cybertronians who would find your story inspirational, you should tell it." He reasoned before returning to the booth.

Skyfire, looking back, believed that it may very well have been his advice to Starscream to talk to Megatronus that started the war.

* * *

Optimus walked through base once more, sticking to himself. He had just gotten out of one of Prowl's meetings. What the meeting was about he couldn't say, he wasn't paying attention. Megatron's words still rang in his mind. Megatron always had a funny way of saying things Prime couldn't help but dwell upon, Megatron was a smart mech, even though he lacked the education Optimus was fortunate enough to receive, he was still quite intelligent. Megatron had a learner's mind, thirsty for knowledge, after all, many did believe knowledge was power.

* * *

"Let's see..." Orion walked with his cart of data pads through the library in Iacon. "Works by Pharma go in the medical section..." He mumbled, looking through what he had to return to the shelves. "Circuit-Su and You by Master Yoketron go... here, how convenient." He chuckled as he returned a data pad to the shelf.

"Excuse me," a deep, raspy voice said behind and above Orion, causing the mech to jump and turn around, a startled expression on his face. Orion looked up to see none other than famed gladiator himself, Megatronus. "You are the data clerk here, yes?" He asked.

"Er, um... yes, yes sir, I am." Orion nodded. "What can I help you find? Something in servo-to-servo combat? I just placed this one back on the shelf, good read." He stammered a little as he held up the data pad of Yoketron's work up to the gladiator.

"No, actually." Megatronus answered. "I was wondering if you had any of Onyx Prime's works, specifically his works regarding the caste system." He asked. "I checked the shelves that it would be on and could not seem to find it."

"Actually, I do have that right here on the cart." Orion nodded, reaching for the data pad and holding it up. "Is this the one you wanted?" He asked.

"Yes, this will do nicely." Megatronus nodded, taking the data pad. "Thank you, clerk."

"Orion." Orion answered. "Orion Pax."

"Thank you, Orion." Megatronus answered. "I am Megatronus, but I am sure you know that." He said as he walked off to read in peace.

Orion couldn't help but be taken aback. Megatronus researching a political issue? Huh, perhaps he wasn't just the brute he seemed, he was more than meets the eye.

"Enjoying your read?" Orion asked as he passed Megatronus by later that day.

"No, actually, I find the system of society we live in to be quote disturbing, however the text has been very enlightening so I suppose I do enjoy that element of reading this." Megatronus replied.

"I had no idea you were so interested in politics." Orion remarked as he sat down at his table.

"Well, I was talking with a Seeker not too long ago, he said something that made me think, he and I shared similar stories, both of us quite dissatisfied with the system of government on Cybertron. So I decided I want to see who else agrees with me." Megatronus explained. "I intend on holding a rally."

"A rally?" Orion asked. "Interesting. Looking to overthrow the government?" He asked.

"No, I simply want to bring attention to an issue," Megatronus replied. "However, if worst comes to worst." He started to chuckle a little bit, Orion chuckled as well, not entirely sure how to respond. He wouldn't have to respond. Megatronus spoke up once more.

"Say, you seem to be a well read mech, are you not?" Megatronus asked.

"I like to imagine I am." Orion replied.

"Wonderful. Perhaps you may... help me write my speech?" He asked. "Unfortunately the only way I know how to appeal to a crowd is by ripping another bot apart." He chuckled a bit.

"I would be happy to help you," Orion nodded.

"Terrific." Megatronus grinned. "Perhaps with your help, you and I may be able to forge a new path on Cybertron, with liberty and justice for all mechs."

Looking back, Optimus was amazed at how it all went wrong, Megatron, or, Megatronus rather, made excellent points, he saw an issue and he wanted to fix it. It was as simple as that. If only it stayed that simple.

* * *

"I still can't believe Megatronus' bill lost the council's vote." Skyfire remarked. Megatronus had rallied across Cybertron, officially retiring from the gladiator rings to focus more on his cause. He had support all over Cybertron, and finally he had prepared a bill for the council that would dispose of the caste system. It had been voted down after a long debated meeting.

"I know, it saddens me." Starscream sighed. "I really believed in that mech. I wonder what he'll do now." He stated as the two worked on a new project, just then, there was a knock on the door of their laboratory. "I'll see who that is." Starscream stated. He opened the door to see his two brothers, Skywarp and Thundercracker.

"Hey, eggheads," Skywarp said. "Hear about that vote?"

"We were just discussing that actually." Skyfire spoke up. "Sad, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but there's a silver lining." Thundercracker spoke up. "Gladiator pit. Tonight at sundown." He said to the two before he and Skywarp left just like that.

"Gladiator pit?" Starscream murmured. "What could this be about?"

What was happening was Megatronus, now going by Megatron, had gathered his top supporters from all over Cybertron for what he was calling phase two.

"If we cannot convince the council, we will simply forge a new council, taking the old one by force." Megatron said. "We will form a new council, and we will accomplish peace, peace through tyranny!" He called. "Who's with me?" He called out, receiving mass cheering from those who had gathered.

"A hostile takeover?" Skyfire asked. "Is that really a good idea?" He asked quietly.

"The council is full of stone aged mechs who haven't a clue what life is like for the common bot. There's no showing them, the only way to accomplish change is through force." Starscream replied.

"I... I suppose." Skyfire said. Skyfire would have been pleased to know that he wasn't the only one who didn't quite agree. One of Megatron's oldest supporters of his cause wasn't so sure of his new approach.

"You're overthrowing the council!?" Orion asked Megatron afterwards when most had left the stadium.. "Megatronus, that's a terrible idea." He said.

"I gave the council their chance to make Cybertron a better place and they squandered it." Megatron replied. "And please, it's Megatron now."

"But making such a move won't be looked at favorably from Cybertron's populace." Orion answered.

"Orion, did you not see the amount of support I received not just tonight, but across Cybertron?" Megatron asked. "I believe if I go forward with this, I will be just fine."

"Well, if you do go forward with this, I know one mech you will be receiving no support from." Orion spoke up. "I cannot in good conscience support you, if these are the steps you're taking, Megatron." He said bluntly. Megatron turned away and looked back at the mech with a sneer.

"If you are not for me, you are against me." Megatron growled.

"I would rather be against you than for an act of treason." Orion replied. "Farewell, Megatron." He turned and started to walk off. But that wasn't enough for Megatron, in his optics, this was an act of treason, insubordination, and he was ready to treat it as such.

"You are a coward, Orion!" Megatron hollered, grabbing Orion by the right servo and pulling hard, nearly ripping it out of socket. "A coward and a traitor!" He threw him down to the ground. "And now what, Pax? You're going to run off to Alpha Trion and tell him what's going to happen?" He asked. "Hm, well, perhaps we should fix that." He grinned madly. "You were a good asset, Pax, it's a pity our alliance had to end in such a way." He growled, grabbing the mech by the helm and lifting him in the air, tightening his grip on Orion's helm, he could feel his helm closing in on his processor, but before Megatron could crush his helm, he decided instead to drop the mech to the ground and aim his large black cannon at Orion.

"Farewell, old friend." Megatron bid to him before firing, blasting a hole straight through Orion's abdomen. "It's a pity this is how things turned out, for you anyway." He remarked before leaving him for dead.

Orion cried out in pain, he was leaking energon fast, he was sure to die, he had no idea what to do. Lucky for him, he wasn't quite alone. Another doubter happened to still be there. A doubter who had saw the whole interaction between Megatron and Orion.

"My word." Skyfire remarked, running to the mech. Orion looked up at him and started to sputter.

"Alpha... Trion..." Orion coughed. "Take me..."

"Right away." Skyfire picked up Orion and took to the skies, hoping he wouldn't be too late.

* * *

"He's awake." Were the first words Orion recalled hearing. He opened his optics to see a medic he would later know to be his team's medic, Ratchet. "How you feeling?"

"Alive." Orion replied, immediately taken aback when he heard himself speak, his voice was different. Deeper, more grown and mature. "How long was I out?" He asked.

"Son, this may come as a little shock, but your body was destroyed beyond repair, we had to transfer your processor and spark to a new body." Ratchet explained. "But to answer your question it's only been about two solar cycles."

"In times of war, it is best we all be ready." Alpha Trion said. "Megatron and his new squadron of Decepticons attacked the council headquarters, luckily we were informed of this attack so we were prepared."

"He attacked." Orion remarked. "Times of war?"

"We are now at war with the Decepticons." Alpha Trion nodded. "All of those who oppose Megatron are now known as Autobots, with you leading them."

"What?" Orion asked as he stood up. "I'm not a soldier, I'm a data clerk, I'm hardly fit to fight, let alone lead."

"Look in the mirror." Ratchet noted. "You'll find you're closer to ready than you thought." Orion looked in the mirror, his new body certainly accompanied his voice well. He was tall, broad, imposing. He noticed insignias on his shoulders that must have been the markings of an Autobot.

"I may have been upgraded, but I cannot fight." Orion insisted.

"You are our only hope. You know Megatron better than anyone else who isn't already a Decepticon. Besides, you are young. I'm far too old to be commanding an army." Alpha Trion answered. "Wisdom will come with this." He lifted a case and opened it, revealing an orange sphere that housed a luminescent crystal with large gray handles. "This, is the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. It holds the wisdom of the council within and the knowledge of all you will need to lead." He explained.

"Along with a healthy chunk of the Allspark." Ratchet mentioned.

Alpha Trion held the Matrix to Optimus and opened the mech's chest cavity, placing it in a compartment that almost seemed made to house it. "You are now capable of leadership, arise, Optimus Prime."

Orion, under the new name of Optimus Prime, stood to his feet. Alpha Trion was right, he now did feel ready. He grabbed an Ion cannon off the wall and looked to Alpha Trion.

"Where is Megatron?" He asked.

* * *

"You did WHAT!?" Megatron hollered at Skyfire. "You told Alpha Trion my plans and allowed the council to escape!?"

"You intended to kill." Skyfire replied. "Taking innocent lives is not the way to go about accomplishing anything!"

"No, but it can prove a point." Megatron growled. "Starscream!" He barked.

"Yes, Megatron?" Starscream asked.

"Make an example of this... ex Decepticon." Megatron commanded. "Kill him."

Starscream aimed his blasters at Skyfire, could he really fire at his oldest friend with the intent to kill? He couldn't. But Megatron was watching, and if he didn't do it Megatron would surely make an example of both Skyfire and himself. He had to.

Starscream fired, but just above Skyfire's helm. The shots flew past Skyfire and the tower they had just stormed. At first, Megatron was furious, he stomped up to Starscream and grabbed him by the neck, ready to kill.

"I ask you to do one thing, and you disobey me!?" Megatron asked. "This will be your first and last mistake under my command."

"Ack... Megatron.." He sputtered, pointing to the tower, the shots had caused it to give way, and it was falling. Before Skyfire had a moment to analyze the situation, the weight of the building fell upon him, effectively crushing him.

"Hm." Megatron noted, releasing Starscream of his grip. "Creative. But next time, do exactly as you are told. Is that understood?"

"Yes... Lord Megatron." Starscream stood to his feet.

"Decepticons, I feel like having a little fun." Megatron chuckled. "Search the city. The council can't have gotten far. Destroy anyone who stands in your way!" He called out, but over the horizon stood a silhouette that struck fear into the Decepticons who saw.

"Who... is... _that_?" Starscream asked, seeing the imposing silhouette of the large Autobot up ahead, to his left and right standing other Autobot officers. "Megatron?" He asked, directing his leader's attention to it.

"I have never seen that Autobot before." Megatron remarked.

"My name is Optimus Prime." The Autobot stepped before them, brandishing an ion cannon in his left servo and a large battle ax in his right. "I am commander of the Autobots, and we will wage our battles to destroy the evil forces of the Decepticons." He explained. "You will leave now." He said with a commanding voice. He was the size of Megatron, he looked as if he equaled Megatron in strength, and beside him stood enough Autobots to outnumber Megatron, Starscream, and the other Decepticons.

"Decepticons... retreat." Megatron snarled, knowing it would be foolish to counter this new leader at the moment. As Starscream and the Seekers took off, Megatron stood behind and looked the new Autobot commander in the optic.

"This is not over." He growled.

"I was hoping you would say that." Optimus replied.

Megatron sneered and took off, retreating with his forces, all but one. Skyfire.

"Ironhide, Inferno, Roadbuster, Hardhead, scout the city for any Decepticon remnants." Optimus commanded. "Ratchet, Gears, Huffer, and Strongarm," Optimus turned to the remaining Autobots by his side. "Help me look for survivors." He said as he and the two mechs started to look under rubble and debris. The first piece they lifted had the servo of a mech beneath it.

"Get him out." Optimus commanded as he began to uncover the mech.

"Prime," Gears, a stout blue and red mech spoke up. "This is a Decepticon. Goes by them designation: Skyfire" He noted, seeing the insignias on the mech's wing as the uncovered him, scanning the mech for details.

"I say we tear it down for parts." Huffer, a short blue mech with an orange hood and silver pipe-like arms spoke up, not even bothering to dignify the mech with the pronouns of a living thing.

"We will do no such thing." Optimus was quick to say, he recognized him. This was the mech who was responsible for saving his life, he was going to do all he could to return the favor. "Ratchet, do what you can to bring this mech online."

"His energon readings are low," Ratchet remarked.

"Give him some of mine, enough to bring him online." Optimus answered, much to the confusion of the other mechs around him.

"Very well." Ratchet opted not to protest and transferred enough of Prime's energon to bring this mech back online from the stasis he had been thrown into. The mech's optics opened, and he looked up to see the group of Autobots standing over him.

"Starscream? Megatron?" Skyfire murmured as he awoke.

"Skyfire, you are under arrest by order of the Cybertron Council." Strongarm, a tall and broad blue and white femme said, yanking the tall mech up by the servo and proceeding to place cuffs on him before Optimus intervened.

"No, he is not, Strongarm." Optimus protested. "Skyfire, why did your fleet abandon you?"

"Because in their optics, since I protested senseless killing of innocent life, I am a traitor. I am a scientist, not a warrior." Skyfire replied, cracking his neck as he stretched out. "Starscream knocked that building down atop of me, and it seems that they've left me for dead." He stated. "Very well, get on with it. Cuff me."

"You are not under arrest, Skyfire." Optimus stated. "Would you like to join us?"

"WHAT!?" Huffer sputtered.

"He wanted to save innocent life and Starscream blasted him for it!" Ratchet smacked the small bot. "Skyfire, you are more than welcome to join us. You are a scientist, yes?" He asked.

"Yes." Skyfire nodded.

"Very well, you should never feel the needs to be on the front lines with us, you will work in our sciences division, providing you join us." Optimus extended a servo for Skyfire to shake.

"I just may take you up on that offer." Skyfire shook Optimus' servo.

"Welcome to the Autobots, Skyfire." Prime greeted him.

* * *

"Optimus." Skyfire said, back in reality as he landed back in base later. "I wanted to say, thank you," he said once he had his leader's attention. "For saving my life and welcoming me to the team."

"Skyfire, I was just doing what a good leader does." Optimus said modestly. "Besides, I owed you a favor, you saved my life once as well." He said. "Back when I was known as Orion Pax."

"That was you?" He asked. "Well, glad I could help."

"As am I." Optimus chuckled a bit. "I am sorry what happened between you and Starscream occurred. I know you two were close friends."

"Well I suppose if any mech would understand, it would be you." Skyfire mentioned. "What with what happened between you and Megatronus." He reasoned.

"I suppose." Optimus nodded. "But the friendships gained can make up for those lost."

"I would have to agree." Skyfire smiled a little. "Thanks, Optimus."

"Any time, Skyfire." Optimus nodded.

* * *

 _So many cameos! We might just even see a few again some day. We'll just have to see. Until next time!_


	20. Decepticon Treadsmoke

**Author's note:** New character coming in hot! Not just new story wise, but he's new in the sense that I completely made him up. Any readers of my Transformers Prime Season Four story already know him, and if you're one of the seven people that read _Trailbreaker and Windcharger Bit Off More Than They Can Chew_ you'll know him, give a warm welcome to... Treadsmoke!

* * *

Chapter 20: Decepticon Treadsmoke

"Slag... Slag slag slag slag slag!" A red orange SUV build mech with a spherical shaped helmet and a wagging black antenna grimaced as he frantically pulled levers and pressed buttons on the control panel of his ship. /This is Autobot Treadsmoke!/ He hollered into the comm of his ship. /Mayday! Mayday! Any Autobot on planet, come in!/ He exclaimed. /My ship's malfunctioned, I'm gonna crash! Requesting aid! Hello? Hello!?/ He gritted his teeth as his ship descended faster and faster into Earth's atmosphere.

"Thanks folks, you've been a wonderful audience... this is Treadsmoke signing off for the last time..." Treadsmoke grimaced as his ship got closer and closer to impact.

The mech's message did get through to Teletraan One in Autobot headquarters, but the message wasn't acknowledged unfortunately, because a certain red sports car mech and his little yellow compact friend were playing video games on it.

"I hate the fighting mechanics in _Ultimate Battle Bot 5,_ the mechanics in _Ultimate Battle Bot 4_ were better, why change a good thing?" Sideswipe grumbled as Bumblebee beat him in yet another match.

"You're just making excuses." Bee snickered. "Make all the excuses you want, you're still losing to a minibot." Sideswipe grumbled in response as they kept playing.

"What did I tell you two about using Teletraan One for video games!?" Prowl barked as he stomped into the room. "That computer is meant for incoming transmissions and scanning for Decepticon activity. NOT entertainment."

"But the resolution is so much better than the monitor in the common room!" Bumblebee whined.

"I don't care!" Prowl exclaimed. " _OUT_." He pointed to the door. Bee and Sideswipe muttered as they shut the monitor off, since they were in such a rush to avoid Prowl's wrath they neglected to save any information that Teletraan One received during their game session, including the distress signal from Treadsmoke's ship.

Treadsmoke's signal was received however, but certainly not from the company he would have wanted.

/ _My ship's malfunctioned, I'm gonna crash! Requesting aid! Hello? Hello!?_ / Soundwave relayed the message from within Decepticon headquarters for Megatron, Starscream, and Shockwave.

"It appears an Autobot has crash landed on this planet Lord Megatron." Soundwave relayed. "Designation: Treadsmoke. Function: Unknown." Soundwave informed Megatron as a chart of various statistics about the Autobot appeared on the screen of Soundwave's chest.

"Treadsmoke?" Starscream scoffed. "He's not an Autobot that's of any use to us!" He sputtered a laugh as he read the mech's statistic. "Soundwave, this information is useless, especially considering this mech more than likely died on impact."

"It appears his power chip rectifier grants him a unique ability." Soundwave informed Megatron, not caring to reply to Starscream. "He can take the form of other Cybertronians with ease, down to energy signature."

"What!? That's an espionage artist's ability! This Autobot hardly classifies as a warrior! Why would a mech like that be granted such an ability?" Starscream sputtered.

"One doesn't choose their ability, you insolent jet." Megatron snarled. "And if Treadsmoke is such a coward, you two would get along swimmingly."

"Insults aside, it does not change the fact the Autobot is probably dead, the information is useless." Shockwave mentioned.

"Not necessarily, his power chip could still be intact, and we could harness such a power." Megatron reasoned. "Brilliant work Soundwave, come, let us move forward.

"I've also found the crash site, Lord Megatron." Soundwave replied. "We have his precise location."

"Is the Autobot alive?" Megatron asked Soundwave.

"Unknown." Soundwave answered his leader.

"Let's get moving then." Megatron said. "Decepticons, transform and rise up."

* * *

The four Decepticons arrived at the crash site, the ship had crashed in the forest on the outskirts of Harbourton, a city in small Canadian province known as New Brunswick. The shuttle was smoking, in great shape considering the crash. Megatron looked at the smoking wreck and looked to Starscream.

"Fetch the corpse." He ordered. Starscream approached the shuttle and looked, but there was nobody there, rather a mech in the cockpit, there was a mech sized hole in the window.

"Um, Megatron?" Starscream asked. "There's no Autobot there."

"WHAT!?" Megatron hollered. "You mean to tell me that this Autobot crash landed from space and not only survived, but escaped!?" He demanded a response from his head Seeker before Shockwave offered more information.

"Lord Megatron, the Autobot in question did not escape." Shockwave informed him, leading him to a tree just about twenty meters away from the crash site. "It seems the mech wasn't properly fastened in and was propelled from the crashed vessel." He explained as he and Megatron overlooked the Autobot, who was upside down against the base of a tree, seemingly lifeless.

"Excellent." Megatron grinned. "Get the Autobot's power chip and lets get out of here." He ordered Shockwave, who knelt down and prepared to open the bot's chest to remove the power chip, when suddenly, the Autobot in question's optics opened and he let out a frightened scream.

"D'AH!" Treadsmoke reacted, his sudden spring to life even causing Shockwave to falter and step back while the Autobot stood to his pedes and looked around, then back at the warlord and his scientist. "Who... who are you?" He asked. Now, even though the war had been over for millions of years on Cybertron, and even though Treadsmoke came online after said war concluded, but any mech who came online after the war would most definitely still be taught about Megatron and his Decepticons, and would especially know what they look like.

Megatron and Shockwave knew this fact, surely this Autobot wouldn't just _not_ know about them, and if that were the case, Megatron would almost be insulted.

"I am Megatron." Megatron answered. "Leader of the Decepticons, this is Shockwave, my highest ranking scientist."

"That's pretty cool." Treadsmoke answered. "So, you answered that one, you wanna tell me... who I am?" He asked. Megatron and Shockwave understood now, the crash gave the Autobot amnesia. Shockwave turned to the mech, sure to answer matter-of-factly and honestly, but before he could, Megatron spoke for him.

"Your name is Treadsmoke," that was true. "You are a Decepticon, one of my soldiers." That was most certainly not true. However, amnesiac state or otherwise, Treadsmoke was not a very bright mech, and believed him instantly.

"Sounds good to me." He nodded. "Wait a sec," he looked at his abdomen to see a bright red Autobot symbol. "So... why do I got a different symbol than you?" He asked.

"Well, you see, Treadsmoke, you were sent on an espionage mission among the Autobots." Megatron explained. "When you were discovered, you fled, your ship was shot down in the atmosphere in this planet, you're lucky we intercepted your distress call." Only one part of that statement was true.

"Huh. I guess that checks out." Treadsmoke shrugged. "Guess we'd better get back to base, huh?" He asked.

"Yes, why don't we?" Megatron grinned before Shockwave pulled him aside. "What do you want, Shockwave?"

"Lord Megatron, are we sure we're just going to induct this Autobot into our ranks?" Shockwave asked. "He may be oblivious now, but anything can revitalize his memories, and what then?"

"What then is we kill him and take his power chip." Megatron answered. "Until then, why not enjoy another disposable soldier?"

"Your statement is... logical." Shockwave nodded before looking to where the Autobot stood to see he wasn't there, instead, he was bothering Soundwave.

"Hey, what's this button do?" The mech asked, pressing a button on Soundwave's shoulder.

"Do not touch that." Soundwave ordered just moments too late, releasing Laserbeak, Ravage, Buzzsaw, Frenzy, and Rumble in seconds.

"What's up, boss?" Rumble asked.

"Soldier? He seems more like a sparkling." Shockwave couldn't help but note while Megatron exhaled a sigh.

* * *

"Beautiful place. Cold though." Hound remarked as he, Ratchet, Prowl, and Cliffjumper arrived at the crash site hours after the four Decepticons plus Treadsmoke had left.

"I thought the place that HQ's located was bad. All misty and humid. At least that place was warm! It's freezing!" Cliffjumper bemoaned. "Let's scrape up what's left of this SOG (Son of a glitch) and get outta here."

"Sooner we do that, the better." Prowl nodded. "Fowler was mad enough already when the ship up and crashed out of nowhere. Can't believe we didn't get a distress signal."

"Scanners are picking up no signs of life. Must have died on impact." Ratchet noted as he scanned the shuttle. "Poor fella. Looks like it was an Autobot ship too."

"Can you tell who it was?" Prowl asked.

"We can check the ship's logs, providing they're still operational." Ratchet replied, climbing into the cockpit and pressing a few buttons. "Huh. Seems to be operational. Looks like there was a transmission sent out moments before impact." He remarked, playing it back.

/ _This is Autobot Treadsmoke_!/ The message relayed.

"Treadsmoke?" Hound asked. "I know that mech."

" _Knew_." Cliffjumper corrected.

/ _My ship's malfunctioned, I'm gonna crash! Requesting aid! Hello? Hello!?/_ The message concluded. Prowl and Ratchet exchanged looks before Prowl looked at the statistics of the message.

"It was even coded right, why didn't we get that message?" Prowl asked.

"That's what baffles you?" Ratchet asked. "What baffles me is that there's no body in sight. He was launched from the cockpit and crashed against that tree over there by the looks of things."

"Maybe he wandered off into the city?" Hound suggested. "No body means he survived, right?"

"Or Canadian scientists got him and they're currently taking him apart to see what makes him tick. They probably don't even know we're on Earth. I hear the folks around here are pretty behind." Prowl stated. "Or maybe he just strolled off."

"And _then_ got captured." Cliffjumper added.

"I'm not picking up a signal within the radius he'd realistically be in, but it's possible he was damaged in the crash, he must have been somewhat damaged if it didn't kill him after all." Ratchet reasoned.

"Should we look for him?" Hound asked.

"It's worth a shot." Prowl nodded. /Prowl to base, no sign of the Autobot./

/We can confirm it was an Autobot?/ Trailbreaker asked through the comm.

/I wouldn't have said Autobot if we couldn't confirm./ Prowl replied. /Fella by the name of Treadsmoke./

/Treadsmoke? No way! I love that guy! Funniest mech I've ever met!/ Trailbreaker replied. /He'll be a great addition to the team./

/Well, that great addition to the team is MIA. No idea where he is./ Prowl replied. /Cliff, Ratchet, Hound, and I are going to stay in the area to look for him or at least signs of him./

/Got it. Over and out./ Trailbreaker signed off.

"Alright mechs, we've got a 'bot to find." Prowl said, leading the three others onto the road that led into the city. Not knowing the mech they were looking for was now back in the south western state they were calling home.

* * *

"So, Treadsmoke. How much do you remember?" Megatron asked Treadsmoke as the two were alone in Megatron's throne room.

"It's all kinda fuzzy." Treadsmoke replied, pacing about the throne room, taking the sights in. "I know a lot about myself. My name, how to transform, my little superpower, oh! I can remember one time I had a bad cube and had to get my entire fuel tank removed and replaced. But I don't remember much else."

"Excellent, let me tell you what you're forgetting then." Megatron grinned. "You are a Decepticon warrior."

"Checks out." Treadsmoke shrugged. "So these Autobots... bad news, those are the bad guys, how many... pray tell, are on this planet?"

"The worst of the worst." Megatron replied. "There are nineteen known Autobots on this planet, all of them terrible. Thankfully we have another warrior on our side." Megatron grinned

"I don't remember having battle skills, but them again I don't remember much." Treadsmoke started to laugh. Megatron sighed and rolled his optics.

"Skywarp! Drag Strip! Scrapper! Blackarachnia! Quickstrike!" Megatron called. "Accompany Soundwave, Treadsmoke and I to the oil rigs. That should be enough to get Prime's attention."

"But first," Starscream held up a branding iron looking tool. "Something a little more appropriate for our new recruit." He pressed the iron to Treadsmoke's abdomen before he could even register what was going on.

"G'ah! Ow! Ow! Hot! Oh that hurts! My... sweet fragging Primus that hurts!" Treadsmoke cried in reaction. "There must have been a less painful way to do that."

"No, there ain't." Scrapper huffed.

"Let's go. Decepticons, rise up." Megatron ordered. Now, ground vehicles or not, Decepticons had the ability to fly via booster packs. Treadsmoke was not a Decepticon. He could not fly despite his attempts to jump and take flight.

"I'll just follow on the ground then." Treadsmoke mumbled. "Even if I switched to a flyer bot I couldn't actually fly." He sighed, turning into his vehicle mode that was still Cybertronian. _Quick thinking with the amnesiac bit, that bought me a little time. Though it's only a matter of time before bucket head sees through my lie. I mean, if he put one of those psychic patches on me he'd immediately see through it, kill me, and take my fragging power chip._ He thought to himself. _We're on our way to fight some Autobots, great... I may be a little peeved they didn't come and help me, but I don't wanna fight them!_

By now you've probably figured out Treadsmoke was not suffering from amnesia, in fact, most the damage he suffered from the crash was cosmetic, that and he was pretty sure he had a herniated cog in his spinal pistons. It certainly didn't hurt that much to transform before the crash. His build was known for three things, being notoriously crafted as outliers (Trailbreaker's force fields for example), having the highest energy consumption rate of the standard sized bots, and being quite durable. He may be durable enough to survive a crash, but most of that was due to Earth's terrain being pretty soft, he certainly wasn't durable enough to withstand a fusion cannon blast to the helm from Megatron, which he was sure to get once Megatron saw through his facade.

* * *

"We've searched everywhere within a hundred and fifty miles of the crash site, he's nowhere, no sign of him." Hound lamented as he, Prowl, Ratchet, and Cliffjumper drove through the outskirts of the city in search of their team mate. "There's no way, looking at the time he landed here, that he could have gotten farther... heck, I can't even pick up his signal."

"You sure are worried about him, what was he? Your conjunx endura?" Cliffjumper asked.

"No," Hound was quick to reply, visibly cringing at the suggested notion despite being in his alternate mode. "He was just a really good friend. He, Trailbreaker, and I were all good pals back on Cybertron. We had a fourth too, Windcharger was his name."

"I knew Windcharger." Cliffjumper replied. "Magnets were his thing, yeah?"

"Yeah, no clue where he's at now. I think he moved to Caminus." Hound replied.

"A mech on a planet of femmes, that's either a dream come true or like the smelting pit." Cliffjumper chortled. "I remember, Blue and I were stationed in Caminus for a little while. He was real popular, Datzun builds tend to be seen as more appealing on the optics... present company excluded from that statement." He jabbed at Prowl.

"Thanks." Prowl said flatly. "Remind me again, where's the top half of your body, short stack?"

"I left it at your carrier's house so she wouldn't get lonely." Cliffjumper fired back.

"That's enough." Ratchet dispersed their banter. "You're giving me a processor ache." Ratchet could only hope they found this mech soon, or at least gave up soon, Cliffjumper was starting to finally make his age catch up with him. /Ratchet to Trailbreaker, come in./ he commed in to base.

/Trailbreaker here. Any sign of 'im?/ He asked.

/Negatory. No trace of him anywhere./ Ratchet said grimly.

/Keep looking, he'll show up eventually./ Trailbreaker said. /He always does./

/Alright, over and out./ Ratchet replied, signing off. "Alright fellas, we'll cover more ground if we split up, keep your com links on and report any sign of him." The medic instructed the crew before they turned their separate was and drove off.

* * *

"So it's like this. Pour oil into the cube, and we bring it back to base to be converted to energon, easy as that, even somebot like you can't frag this up." Scrapper informed Treadsmoke, holding an empty cube ready to be filled. Keep in mind this was an offshore rig. Treadsmoke wasn't exactly thrilled about swimming to it while his supposed team flew there.

"Gee, thanks for the words of encouragement, Scrapper." Treadsmoke huffed, peeling a starfish off his pede as he took the cube and started to fill it up. "So, this make the good stuff?" He tried to make conversation with Scrapper. "I haven't had a good visco in ages... at least I don't think I have."

"This Earth fuel is hardly strong enough to make low grade." Scrapper said in disdain towards the primitive materials. "I've been working on a few recipes, but nothing's quite made it taste like home, you know?"

"Mm," Treadsmoke dipped his digits into the oil and tasted it. "Yeah, this stuff is a little heavy on the electrons."

"That's what I noticed." Scrapper nodded.

"You know, a good way to delude electrons is... if I remember correctly... diesel, this planet have diesel?" Treadsmoke asked, filling another cube.

"Plenty." Scrapper nodded. "Huh, never woulda guessed diesel. How'd you know that?" Scrapper asked.

"Bartender." Treadsmoke replied. "Used to work for the one and only MacCadam."

"Huh, neat." Scrapper replied, as much as Treadsmoke dreaded to admit, he was having a pleasant conversation with this Decepticon. "You remember much else?"

"Comedy." Treadsmoke replied, he figured if he could discern what was safe to admit he remembered and what wasn't safe to admit he would be okay. "After I left Cybertron, I worked as a comedian on the moon sized casino attraction Planet Datzun."

"Planet Datzun?" Scrapper asked. "I loved that place. Don't tell anybot, Megatron strictly forbid his elite from ever visiting, but the whole notion of leaving your faction at the door always took a real load off my shoulders."

"Well that's good," Treadsmoke replied. "Because regardless, you seem to be stuck with a real load on your shoulders anyway." He clanged his fist on the large bucket that belonged to his front-end loader mode that was attached to his shoulders. Scrapper couldn't help but laugh at the joke, earning looks from other Decepticons.

"Heheheh, you aren't so bad, Treadsmoke." He chuckled. "Thanks for that, I needed a laugh."

"Hey, that's what I'm good for." The red mech chuckled, he couldn't help but lament some knowing that it wouldn't be long that he'd be fighting this mech. Speaking of fighting, the Autobots were up above, ready to stop this operation. Skyfire was commanding a crew of Sideswipe, Wheeljack, Tracks, and Powerglide.

"Who's that red Decepticon?" Powerglide asked, looking over the rig. "I ain't seen him before."

"He looks like that Autobot that Trailbreaker pulled up, that one who crash landed here." Tracks mentioned.

"You're right, and that would explain why the results from Prowl's mission were inconclusive." Skyfire deducted. "Autobots, land! This has become a rescue mission." He took a dive, followed by the other Autobots, who either transformed and landed or disengaged their rocket packs and landed on the rigs.

"Give him up, Megatron, that's one of ours!" Skyfire hollered to Megatron, gaining his attention.

"I've no idea what you're talking about, Skyfire." Megatron answered. "The only Autobots here are the five who stand before me."

"Oh boy." Scrapper huffed. "Tread, listen to me." He turned to him. "You're a Decepticon, like me, like Blackarachnia, like all of us." He assured him, or at least attempted to.

"That's funny," Treadsmoke replied. "Because my optic color is blue, I can't fly, and I had a big ol' Autobot insignia on my gut when I got here." He went on, acting like he was just getting wise now. "I'm sorry buddy, but I think you and I both know I'm an Autobot." He said. He winced a little before reluctantly tackling the Deception and whispering something in his audial. "Remember the recipe I advised. Works miracles." He murmured. "Two parts ethanol one part diesel for Nightmare Fuel if that's your fancy." He advised before scampering off the Decepticon and joining his Autobots, hiding behind Skyfire.

"Bout time you showed up." Treadsmoke muttered.

"Maybe if you sent a distress signal you wouldn't have been in this mess." Tracks replied.

"I did send a distress signal. My ship told me it got through to your Teletraan unit." He murmured. "Somebot must have been using it and ignored my message."

"Oops." Sideswipe mumbled. "This one may be on Bumblebee and I."

"Why does that not surprise me?" Skyfire sighed, rolling his optics. "Cease operations and retreat immediately." He ordered Megatron

"You actually believe I'll comply with such an order, much less from a mech like you?" Megatron asked, scoffing at Skyfire. "You think I don't remember how much of a weakling you are?"

"Standing up for one's principles is not a sign of weakness, Megatron." Skyfire growled.

"I'm beginning to detect a lot of bad blood here." Treadsmoke mumbled.

"You don't know the half of it." Wheeljack replied, looking back at the mech who suddenly wasn't there. "Treadsmoke?" He looked around, the mech was suddenly nowhere.

"Surrender that mech, he is Decepticon property now." Megatron growled. "His power is wasted on the likes of you!"

"Uh, hey Megatron?" Megatron was interrupted from his banter with Skyfire by Quickstrike tapping on his leg. "I just got a com from Acid Storm back at HQ, Starscream's convinced the Combaticons to form a mutiny, an' worst of all, Shockwave's in on it too." He informed him.

"What!?" Megatron growled. "That insolent little squit!" He snarled. "Decepticons! Back to base!" He ordered, he leaped into the air and flew for base, the other Decepticons joining him, all but Quickstrike, who just watched them fly off, chuckling.

"How's that for wasted power?" 'Quickstrike' chuckled as he turned back into Treadsmoke. "You still got it, Tready." He grinned.

"Valiant work." Skyfire said. "I'm always up for a non violent solution." He grinned, setting a servo on the red mech's servo. "However, what of the real Quickstrike? He was there with Megatron." He asked. To answer his question was the reappearance of the real Quickstrike, who climbed back onto the rig, peeling sea weed off his helm.

"Quickstrike's back in action!" He jumped up, then looked around to see the other Decepticons were gone. "Megatron? Drag Strip?" He asked. "Tready! Where'd the others go?"

"The others went back to base," Treadsmoke stepped up to him. "I advise you join them." He grinned, kneeling down to look the Fuzor in the eye as he only stood about waist height to Treadsmoke. Quickstrike saw the other Autobots gather around and gulped, quickly taking off after his team, lest the Autobots make short work of him.

"I see you were with them long enough to get an alteration to your faction insignia." Skyfire couldn't help but note.

"Yeah, I wish they had of given me a gray one instead of the purple Decepticon logo, purple looks so bad against red orange." Treadsmoke gagged.

"Well, no worries, we'll get an Autobot symbol put back on you the minute we get back to base." Wheeljack assured him.

"I sure hope your way of doing it is less painful than theirs!" Treadsmoke laughed. "Hey, uh, could one of you guys give me a lift?" He asked. "I'm sort of... aviationally challenged."

"Hop on." Skyfire said, transforming into his alternate mode that was plenty large enough for Treadsmoke to climb onto.

"Onward, noble Pegasus!" Treadsmoke bellowed as Skyfire took off.

"I will barrel roll and drop you in the ocean." Skyfire threatened.

"Alright, alright, geez, some bots have no sense of humor." He mumbled as they flew back to base.

* * *

That night, Optimus Prime's team welcomed Treadsmoke with a light celebration, the humans came, excited to see the new mech, and Sunstreaker even dipped into his private stash of high grade to welcome the mech. It wasn't a total party, considering the guest of honor spent most of it being interviewed by Fanzone, _and_ Fowler.

"My name is Overlord, Megatron's superior, here to annihilate all the galaxy." Treadsmoke mumbled boredly as he was grilled by the two humans.

"I'll ask you one more time, name?" Fanzone asked.

"Treadsmoke, jack of all trades and master of none." He replied. "Previous employments have been bartender and entertainer, I'm alone but not lonely, and I can shape shift, taking the form of any Cybertronian I please down to voice and energy signature for up to fifteen minutes, am I done now?" He asked.

"Alternate mode?" Fowler asked.

"Pickup truck. 1979 Chevrolet Silverado specifically." He droned. "Red, obviously."

"Let me ask you one more thing, what was with the grand entrance? A regular landing wasn't good enough?" Fowler asked.

"I was shot down by Decepticons, I was on a mission to Earth and they blew the thrusters in my ship, figuring the crash would be enough to kill me." He replied. "Grand entrance my aft."

"Mission to Earth? What mission?" Fanzone asked.

"Sorry tiny, but that's classified info between me and who I was told to contact on Earth, I was told he'd be here. Prowl." He said.

"Prowl's here, he's the police car." Fanzone looked through his papers. "Hey! Anyone seen Prowl around?" He called to the socializing Autobots in the common room.

"No," Mirage remarked. "In fact, I haven't seen him, Hound, Ratchet, or Cliffjumper all day." Trailbreaker heard this and froze up. He had forgotten to tell them they had found Treadsmoke. They were still out looking.

"I uh... I gotta go change my oil filter." Trailbreaker chuckled nervously, excusing himself from the party before darting off to the security center to contact Prowl and the others.

* * *

Scrapper sighed, fidgeting with a scale model of an old project, lamenting somewhat over the loss of what could have been a potential friend, through the base he could hear the echos of Megatron and Starscream engaged in little more than a minor scrimmage by their standards, Starscream insisting he was not starting a mutiny and Megatron not listening, too busy trying to blast the Seeker for his treachery, despite the fact that this time he really was innocent. Scrapper was left little time to lament as soon Shockwave stepped into his workshop, followed by Motor Master and Onslaught.

"Scrapper, I believe it's time we show Megatron the fruits of our work." Shockwave said.

"You mean it's finished?" Scrapper asked.

"Indeed." Shockwave nodded. "I have outfitted the Combaticons and the Stunticons with our new technology. The Autobots won't know what hit them."


	21. Chaos on Planet Datzun

**Author's note:** Taking a trip to the most famed casino destination in the galaxy tonight, featuring a whole array of new faces, both friend and foe.

* * *

Chapter 21: Chaos on Planet Datzun

"So wait a minute, who are you? I've only ever heard things about you. Apparently half the team has already met you, even Optimus. I just so happen to be the minority. So, name?" Prowl asked the new member of Prime's team as he filed his information.

"Treadsmoke's the name." The red Autobot replied. "Outlier who can shape-shift, and former comedian on Planet Datzun."

"And your mission?" Prowl asked. "Fanzone said you were on a mission and needed to speak with me. What is the mission?" He asked the mech.

"Here's the scoop, Prowler," Treadsmoke replied, sitting up in his chair. "Right now, as we speak, appose at the edge of the galaxy, there are Decepticon forces who have been secretly building a weapon." He answered. "A weapon with the destructive capacity to annihilate an entire planet! And I alone have information that reveals the weapon's only weakness."

"By Primus' name." Prowl murmured, struck with awe as he wrote all of what he said down, just then, the Autobot he was questioning burst out laughing and fell to the floor, rolling about in a fit of bellowing laughter, pounding his servo on the floor joyfully.

"You dummy, that's the stupidest thing I'd ever heard and you just fell for it!" He laughed before jumping back to his pedes. "But seriously though I remember my mission. I was sent here to seek you out specifically. You and your brother, Bluestreak."

"Why?" Prowl asked. "Who sent for us?"

"Mech by the name of Smokescreen, he's one in in charge on Planet Datzun, his business after all, his friend's call him Smokey, I'm not one to brag here, but I get to call him Smokey." He grinned.

"Smokescreen? That's my brother." Prowl remarked. "What could he possibly want Blue and I for? We haven't spoken in stellar cycles."

"Well he needs to see you." Treadsmoke said. "He said: 'Treadsmoke, I need you to seek out Prowl and Bluestreak, last I heard they were on Earth, there's no time to lose, I picked you for this mission because you're so cool and handsome," you know, that's pretty much what he said."

"Did he say why at all?" Prowl asked.

"Nope, he seemed troubled when he contacted me." Treadsmoke replied. "I can guess it has something to do with a crime ring, considering he had told me there was one forming not too long before he was captured..."

"He got captured!?" Prowl asked.

"Yeah, did I not say he got captured?" Treadsmoke asked. "He contacted me through a communications radio where he's being held."

"That would have been great information to know!" Prowl exclaimed before exhaling a long suffering sigh. /Bluestreak, come to my office, it's about Smokescreen./ he said over his comm link to the the other brother, who promptly made his way there.

"What about Smokey? Is something wrong?" He asked.

"Apparently he's being held hostage by a crime ring on Velocitron's moon, now under the name Planet Datzun." Prowl explained. "Treadsmoke, do you know anything about this crime ring?" Prowl asked.

"I know a few of the members." He replied. "The terror twins are definitely part of it, they're the ones that perused me and shot down my shuttle."

"Sideswipe and Sunstreaker?" Bluestreak asked.

"Worse." Treadsmoke said. "Shatter and Dropkick. Some of the meanest Cons you'll ever meet, sadistic and creepy as they come. Not only that, but they're triple changers."

"Triple changers?" Bluestreak asked. "Impossible. The Cons hadn't mastered that tech before the war ended."

"Who said they started out as Cons?" Treadsmoke asked. "They were forged post war on Cybertron, they were some of the first to get an actually successful triple changer style cog. Then, one day, they up and disappear. Where do they pop up? A Decepticon mafia on Datzun, terrorizing locals, attacking casinos, ruining everybot's good time." He explained. "Smokey was always pretty good at evading them, they've been after him for years, trying to claim the planet. Now they've got him. We've got precious little time before they off him and claim the planet for themselves." He said grimly. "Which would be a shame, Datzun's a great place, only place in the Cybersystem that doesn't abide by the whole... factions thing."

"Tread, are you a Con sympathizer?" Bluestreak asked, noting how fond the mech was of the no factions concept.

"By no means." Treadsmoke quickly replied. "However, it's nice to put the war aside, don't see Bot or Con, you know?" He reasoned. "Sympathy or not, Smokey's in trouble, and only we can save him."

"And how do you wager we get there?" Bluestreak asked. "Your shuttle is kaput."

"Well, hold on a minute." Prowl spoke up. "We could still get the computer online, who knows?" Prowl shrugged. "We did bring the wreck back after all, and Wheeljack has been working on it, with any luck, he's patched it all up."

"I'm sorry, is my stone cold, never had faith in his life brother being optimistic about something?" Bluestreak asked. "You're not Prowl." He chuckled.

"A mech can change, can't he?" Prowl asked. Prowl had definitely loosened up a bit once he and Jazz had become friends, and it was certainly a shock to some. Bluestreak namely. The two Datzun twins followed Treadsmoke to Wheeljack's workshop, where the engineer was working at repairing the ship alongside Sunstreaker and Ironhide.

"Wheeljack an' I have been workin' on your shuttle's weapon systems." Ironhide informed the young red mech. "Ain't nobot shootin' you down again."

"Thanks." Tread grinned as he watched them work. "And... what are you doing?" He asked Sunstreaker.

"I'm making your ship look good." Sunstreaker informed him as he painted and polished. "Cause it looked like drab and drear had a sparkling and named it..." He looked at the markings on the ship. "The SS Huntress." He concluded, tilting his helm quizzically.

"There's a bit of a story behind that name." Treadsmoke murmured.

"How long until it's up and running, Wheeljack?" Prowl asked.

"Looks like it's good to go." Wheeljack remarked. "Armor ain't exactly what it used to be, I'd need another week to get that back up to code. But she can fly."

"Go easy for Primus' sake. I worked hard on the detailing." Sunstreaker informed Treadsmoke as he hopped into the cockpit.

"Yeah yeah," Treadsmoke shrugged him off. Prowl climbed into the seat beside Treadsmoke and Bluestreak sat behind them. "Alright mechs, here we go." He said as he started up the ship and taxied it out of the hangar.

"Hey! Treadsmoke!" Hound called, watching from the runway with Trailbreaker. Treadsmoke opened up the cockpit and looked to him.

"Yeah?" The red mech called.

"Where you headed?" Trailbreaker asked.

"Datzun!" Treadsmoke called. "Got a gang to bust, you two in?" He called.

"Absolutely not." Prowl revolted quickly.

"C'mon aboard!" Treadsmoke welcomed his pals on, climbing in and taking their seats in the now full cockpit. The two chuckled and looked around the familiar shuttle they had flown many trips in.

"The SS Huntress flies again, how do you like that, Shatter?" Treadsmoke chortled as the ship blasted off, now, this could very easily have been a taunt since it was Shatter who shot down his ship in the first place, but his tone made it seem like there was something more.

"You seem to have a real disdain for those two." Prowl couldn't help but note.

"Dropkick is fine, bit of a psycho but I can't say I detest him." Treadsmoke replied. "An' I'd rather not talk about Shatter." He said. "She's a... long story."

"Nobot likes to talk about an ex." Bluestreak quipped.

"Blue." Prowl said sternly. "Nobot said she was an ex."

"I won't deny it though." Treadsmoke breathed quietly, just loud enough for Prowl and Bluestreak to hear, of course Treadsmoke's buddies already knew the whole story. "Anyhow, who wants to listen to the radio?" He asked. "I have a signal booster installed so I can pick up the channels from the Cyber System no matter where I'm at." He said, fiddling with a dial. "Let's see... any of you listen to Twincast? How about Rosanna? Comedy station from Datzun is airing an old Punchline broadcast, he's a stitch."

"Pilot's choice." Prowl stated, shrugging his shoulders.

"A'ight." The SUV mech shrugged, leaving the station on a music station that played the Cybertronian equivalent to classic rock. "Hey Cindy." He said aloud. Prowl and Bluestreak exchanged looks, confused as to why he just said that.

"Yes, Treadsmoke?" An automated voice from the ship's computer replied.

"Add two vocal recognition proflies." Treadsmoke stated. "Hey, state your names." He said to the two Datzun framed mechs.

"Prowl." Prowl replied.

"Bluestreak." Bluestreak added.

"Vocal recognition added. Prowl and Bluestreak." The program relayed. "Welcome back, Hound and Trailbreaker." She added, sensing their presence as well.

"Hey Cindy, how ya doing?" Trailbreaker asked, grinning widely as he looked down at Earth from where they flew.

"Happy to be in your company once more, Trailbreaker." Cindy replied, seemingly flirtatiously.

"That's weird." Prowl murmured.

"We've got a long way to go to Datzun, feel free to make use of the lounging bay in the back." Treadsmoke told Prowl and Bluestreak as he pressed a couple buttons to set his ship to autopilot. "Hound, Trails, let's give Windy a ring and see what he's up to."

"The less mechs we have involved in this, the better." Prowl quickly stated, trying to deter Treadsmoke from calling another mech.

"I'm in charge here," Treadsmoke replied defensively. "This is my mission, this is my ship, we do it my way, and I say Windcharger's gonna come in handy, besides, he's part of the crew, I'm not about to take down Datzun's crime ring without the full crew." He insisted. Prowl sighed and left his seat, retreating to the lounge with Bluestreak. Treadsmoke mumbled as he mocked the officer before speaking to Cindy.

"Cindy, give Windcharger a call, yeah?" He asked.

"Affirmative. Now dialing 'Windchrager'." Cindy relayed.

"Prow's generally a nice mech, don't let him get to you." Hound mentioned as the call dialed.

"I can see that, I just don't want somebot else giving orders on my ship, only other bot allowed to give orders on my ship is my femme, and I'm currently single, so that means I'm the bot who gives the orders." He stated before the call went through and Windcharger's blocky gray helm was projected on the screen.

"Tread?" Windcharger asked. "Waitasec, Hound? Trailbreaker?" He asked. "Wow! Looks like we got a full fledged reunion here, what's going on?"

"Hey Windy!" Treadsmoke replied. "Listen, we've got a gang to bust and we're heading to Datzun, we could use your magnets. You in?"

"You know it. I'll be there in a jiffy." Windcharger nodded. "While we're on Datzun we should have a little fun, I know an oil house there with all convertible waitresses." He winked as he hung up.

"Convertible waitresses, me-wow." Trailbreaker grinned. "C'mon, let's go play darts." He said to Hound and Treadsmoke as he got up, the other two SUV build mechs joining him.

* * *

Upon arrival at Datzun, Treadsmoke set his ship down on his private spot for his ship, the roof of his own bar and comedy club. once the ship was parked, he opened the airlock and the five mechs stepped down the ramp and onto the roof where a short gray and red mech with a boxy helm was waiting.

"Well look at you! You're all even uglier than I remember!" The little mech taunted his friends playfully as they approached.

"Look who's talkin!" Trailbreaker laughed as he nudged Windcharger. "How you doing you little son of a glitch?"

"Oh great, a reunion." Prowl huffed.

"Oh, ease off, stripes, I haven't lost sight of why we're here." Treadsmoke reassured him. "We've got our crew together, time for the next part, casing the joint out." He explained, leading his crew down the side ramp of the building and into the busy, flashy streets of the entertainment capital. "There she is boys, Datzun." He said to Prowl and Bluestreak, both of whom had never been.

"Beautiful place." Bluestreak remarked, looking around.

"I hate it here." Prowl noted, lamenting the fact his police markings were earning him unwanted attention from passers by. "The sooner we catch these guys and go home, the better."

"He's a barrel of fun." Windcharger murmured to Bluestreak. "Look, you guys have come a long way, we should at least refuel, and we can come up with a plan while we're at it."

"Good idea, shortstop." Treadsmoke nodded approvingly. "Alright folks, let's get some energon." He said, leading the team to the nearest oil house. Most of the crew took a booth while Treadsmoke walked up to the counter, the bot behind the counter was a tall, orange and hot pink Seeker build femme who currently had her back to the mech. "Oh, Camber..." He hummed.

"Do my audials deceive me? Don't tell me that really is you, Treadsmoke." She grinned, still not turned.

"I'll have my usual, a White Praxian, only one blast of liquid nitrogen." He replied.

"Son of a glitch, it is you." She beamed, turning around. "How you doing, big red? Last I heard of you Shatter and Dropkick shot you down."

"It takes more than a crash landing to stop me." Treadsmoke grinned. "Of course it only got worse from there, when I came to, my welcoming committee was none other than the Fearsome Four of the Decepticons themselves."

"You lie, there's no way you would've walked out of that alive." Camber scoffed.

"I pulled the amnesiac sketch." Treadsmoke grinned slyly.

"That hardly worked when your ex femmes came around looking forward to you, I doubt it worked on Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, and Shockwave." She shook her helm fondly. "So, I recognize the two big mechs and the little fella, who are the two handsome hunks of Datzun?" She asked.

"Bluestreak and Prowl. Trust me, you wouldn't like 'em." Treadsmoke replied quickly. "They're actually the secondary reason why we're here, you being the primary clearly."

"Of course." Camber nodded.

"But, those two are Smokey's brothers, we're here to save his aft and get rid of those rouge 'Cons once and for all." Treadsmoke replied.

"Good luck with that." Camber replied. "They're tough, Smokescreen isn't even the only hostage now, most who've tried are stuck there with him, hear they're picking folks off day by day." She informed him.

"Drat." He breathed. "Who do they have now?"

"That little Constructicon who ran a bar a couple mega-miles away... Scuff, that's his name." She noted. "Those circus performers, Tigatron and Airazor, and then the air stunt-mechs, what do they call themselves?"

"The Aerialbots." Treadsmoke replied. "Damn, but that's what you get on a planet where it's staff are all barkeeps and performers."

"And you think you and your merry mechs can do the job?" Camber raised an optic ridge. "Listen, you'll get yourself killed if you go that route, let me help you." She offered. "I know I don't have a lot of combat experience, but I'm tough. Besides, I wanna teach them a lesson, always roughing up my bar. It's time we took them down."

"Wonderful." Tread shook her servo. "Hey Prowl! We got more help!" He called, Prowl just sighed.

"Great. A seeker, that's just what we need." Prowl droned.

* * *

"There it is, folks." Treadsmoke whistled a bit as they adorned what was once a beautiful spectacle of a structure: The Power Tower. A massive tower with a golden sphere on the top which served as Smokescreen's work space, living quarters, and personal pool. It had the space for all that to be quite spacious. But right now it was nothing more than the playground of those rouges and the hostage quarters for those held.

"What do we know about the gang exactly?" Bluestreak asked.

"Five of the members." Camber replied. "Subject one: Oil Slick. A motorcycle former Decepticon who specializes in mixing toxic chemicals. He's creepy as they come, especially since his helm isn't connected to his body, it floats around in a glass bubble helmet thing."

"Weird." Bluestreak murmured.

"Subject two: Dropkick." Treadsmoke added. "He's about as sadistic as he is blue, and he's _very_ blue. He's got two modes, helicopter and muscle car."

"But Dropkick wouldn't be complete without his twin sister, subject three: Shatter." Camber spoke up. "Not as sadistic as Dropkick, or at least not as loud and upfront about it, instead, she's cold and calculated. She's got a jet mode and a muscle car mode. One note that she specifically has it out for Treadsmoke, considering she was a flame of his."

"You had to mention that, huh?" Treadsmoke sighed. "Last of the normal members is subject four: Needlenose." Treadsmoke spoke up. "Jet former, that's about all we know about him, except for the fact he's stupid, very stupid." Treadsmoke concluded.

"None of these would be that big an issue be it not for their leader, femmes and gentlemechs, introducing subject five: Lockdown." Camber stated. "He was a contract mercenary during the war for Cybertron but he mostly worked for Decepticons. Unfortunately he gets more and more powerful with each victim as he takes a trophy from them to use as an upgrade, generally a weapon or ability." She said grimly as the group of seven gazed at the building from afar.

"So that's the crew we're up against, what's the situation inside like?" Prowl asked.

"Well, from what Smokescreen told me when he contacted me... Lockdown occupies Smokescreen's quarters and guards the hostages, the others make waste of the tower itself when they aren't causing a ruckus around the capital." Treadsmoke answered. "See that clock on the sphere?" He pointed to the large countdown.

"Not so much a clock as a timer." Prowl noted. "But yes." He nodded.

"That's how long the hostages have left, Lockdown's ultimate goal was immunity since he and his crew are wanted on every planet in the cyber system. He demanded that from the council on Cybertron in exchange fpr the release of the hostages, he knew that was never gonna happen, but he thought it might be fun. When that timer is up, their time is up." Treadsmoke explained.

"This would have been great information before we left Earth." Prowl remarked.

"I wanted to wait, this makes for a great build-up to the rescue itself, anybot else getting _Ocean's 11_ vibes here?" Treadsmoke had only been on Earth for a day, and he had watched _Ocean's 11_. It was the first movie he watched.

"So... it's only five bots? Doesn't seem too bad." Windcharger remarked.

"Five members we know of anyway." Treadsmoke added. "Plus, it's Lockdown, he's taken down mechs that the seven of us put together couldn't take, him alone makes this nearly impossible. The other four don't help."

"So what's the plan?" Hound asked.

"I got an idea." Treadsmoke replied. "There's no way the seven of us are getting in there in our current state. Hound, can you project holograms on other bots?"

"Yep." Hound nodded.

"Good." Treadsmoke nodded. "Dibs on Megatron." He stated, using his ability to become the tyrant in question. "Everyone, state the Con of your preference from Megatron's higher ups. Eventually, Prowl decided on Shockwave, Bluestreak took Starscream, Hound took Skywarp, Trailbreaker took Soundwave, Windcharger took a Reflector unit, and Camber took Thundercracker. Hound projected these images on the bots, making them all ready to infiltrate the tower.

"I'll do the talking." Treadsmoke said, his voice being the only one that sounded like the bot they were disguised as.

"What then?" Prowl asked. "Even if we can somehow bust the hostages out, Lockdown will know about it, and what then?"

"One more thing." Treadsmoke stated. "And that's where you come in, Prowl, contact the IPD and inform them of the situation."

"What?" Prowl asked.

"Tell them the situation, call in as many as you can, you too Blue." Treadsmoke instructed. "If we get enough cops, we should be able to get the tower stormed, between them and us, we'll handle the gang." He explained.

"It's foolproof." Windcharger remarked.

"Not particularly." Prowl shook his helm. "It's... not ideal, but looking at our time I don't know if we can come up with something better." He was right, the timer read less than half a day. By then, the group were starting to get looks from their disguises.

"What are you looking at?" Treadsmoke snarled at a passerby, causing the mech to run even faster.

"Alright gang, let's save my brother." Prowl grinned. "And... providing this actually works... we're going to have one heck of a story to tell."

"Here here." Trailbreaker nodded, the others agreeing as well, and without further adieu, the rescue attempt had started.

* * *

"And then a little a this." Needlenose struck a pose as he paced outside the entryway of the Power Tower, guarding. "An' a little a this, and a little of that, you are on a roll Needlenose!" He cheered himself on as he posed. Just then, he saw seven figures marching toward him that made him jolt into line and possibly spring a leak. "Mega... Mega... Megatron? is that you?" He asked.

"Indeed, Needlenose." Treadsmoke replied. "We have heard so much about your efforts to claim this planet, and I must say, it makes me quite proud."

"D'ah... shucks." Needlenose shuffled his pedes bashfully. "Say, you wouldn't want to take a look around inside, would you? Get to meet with the boss of this operation?" He offered.

"I thought you'd never ask." Treadsmoke grinned.

"Hey boss!" Needlenose spoke into a communicator on his wrist. "You'll never guess who's here, it's Megatron! Along with Starscream, Shockwave, Soundwave, Thundercracker, Skywarp, and... one of the Reflector guys."

/Needlenose, you know I hate when you joke around on the job./ Lockdown's cold, brooding voice spoke through the com. /Get back to guarding the door and don't contact me for the rest of your shift/

"No! It's true!" Needlenose exclaimed, snapping a picture with his communicator. "Megatron wants to see you, he's impressed with our little operation."

/Vector Sigma.../ Lockdown remarked, he must have seen the picture. /Well, what are you waiting for, screw-brain? Send them in./ He ceased the communication.

"Well, c'mon in fellas, hope you like what you see." Needlenose opened the door for the group. "Lockdown shoulda turned off the security drones, don't worry about a thing. Lockdown's in the sphere on the top." He informed them. The first thing they noticed was that the five members they knew was just the tip of the iceberg, there were even more members of the gang milling about of various shapes and sizes.

"Thank you, Needlenose." Treadsmoke nodded. "Onward, Decepticons." He said, leading the group.

"I don't feel right about pretending to be a Decepticon." Prowl mentioned.

"I do it all the time, it's a feeling that eventually goes away." Treadsmoke replied. "And what did I tell you about talking?" They had to make haste if they wanted to pull off this heist successfully, Hound's energy reserves in his hologram projector weren't going to last forever, and Treadsmoke could only change his form for fifteen minutes before needed to recharge the ability. "Elevator." Tread pointed, leading the group to an elevator that the seven piled into, the door closed, the first thing Treadsmoke did was scan the elevator. "No security camera." He remarked.

"Can I turn my projector off?" Hound asked.

"Negative." Prowl answered. "Anybot could board the elevator with us at any moment, and they know Megatron and his mechs are here, not us."

"Correct." Treadsmoke nodded. "I have thirteen minutes and twenty seven seconds before I'll revert back to myself, think we can make it?"

"Nope." Camber shook her helm pessimistically. "Never gonna happen."

"We don't need to get them out of the building within that time span, Prowl and I have already contacted the Cybertronian Police Department, they have a convoy on the way." Bluestreak mentioned. "As long as we can locate the hostages and ensure their safety until they arrive, we'll be alright."

"Good." Treadsmoke nodded, then the elevator opened, and standing before them were Shatter, Dropkick, and Oil Slick.

"Welcome, Lord Megatron." Shatter said respectfully, nodding her helm.

"Uhh... yeah, thank you, Shatter." Treadsmoke nodded, briefly taken aback by seeing her in that proximity to him, she noticed that he was taken aback, and thought something might be wrong with her leader.

"Lord Megatron, is everything alright?" She asked.

"I am fine." Treadsmoke answered. "Direct me to Lockdown."

"He's in there." Dropkick pointed to the doors to where Smokescreen's former office was, the group walked toward it, as Prowl walked, he noticed something on the wall, an advertisement for a dance show from back when, featuring none other than Tracks on the poster.

"Huh." Prowl murmured, taking a picture of the poster.

Dropkick and Oil Slick opened the doors to the office in which Lockdown overlooked the city, the mech in question then turned to face the arriving mechs, Lockdown was an ugly mech, he was tall and lanky with asymmetrical parts of his vehicle mode covering his arms and legs, instead of his right servo he had a large hook, His body was primarily black with green prison tattoo type detailing, and he had large spikes coming from his left and right sides of his chin. To top it all off, he was missing an optic.

"Megatron!" Lockdown exclaimed, grinning widely. "It's a pleasure to see you again, how long has it been?"

"Too long, old friend. Too long." Treadsmoke replied, working fast on his pedes. "But there will be plenty of time to reminisce later, I'm more interested in seeing your prisoner manifest."

"But of course, right this way, mighty Megatron." Lockdown led him to a spacious room where sure enough there were the nine bots that were currently being held captive.

"Smoke." Prowl couldn't help but remark quietly, his brother was beaten and battered. Part of his chevron on his helm was broken, he had scratches and dents all over his body, even though he hadn't spoken to Smokescreen in years, his energon started to boil at the sight.

"Lockdown, may I have a moment with the prisoners?" Treadsmoke asked.

"Sure thing, take all the time you need... Treadsmoke." Lockdown grinned madly, blasting Treadsmoke on the abdomen, the blast being enough to revert him back to his original self. "You had me going there for a second, you really did." Lockdown laughed dryly. "Not really, I knew it was you all along. We all did... except Needlenose, you had him fooled. But that's not really an impressive feat." The jig was up, the disguises on the others fell.

"How did you know?" Prowl asked. "It was Camber, she's the mole!" He deduced.

"You dirty little Datzun! I ought to turn your door wings into a miniskirt!" Camber snarled immediately at his deduction.

"Now don't go pointing digits." Shatter shook her helm. "It was always the plan to sweeten this hostage situation with a few members of Optimus Prime's team."

"Smokescreen here was dumb enough to send that whole transmission off on a tapped comm link, sending Treadsmoke to Earth, we let him get there so we could snag Prowl and Bluestreak, two well respected deputies on the IPD. And the handful of outliers that tagged along just sweetened the deal." Lockdown explained.

"The Seeker is small bananas compared to some other hostages, the Datzuns and Outliers namely, but we can't just let her go." Oil Slick deduced. "Oh well, a kill count of sixteen beats nine by far."

"Megatron is not the type to show up unannounced, and surely word would have spread by the time he arrived to the tower." Shatter reasoned. "Tread, Tread, Tread, you're even dumber than I remember."

"Pleasure to see you again, as always, always such a pleasant presence." Treadsmoke said sarcastically.

"You all settle in, I'll contact Cybertron with our final demands before we kill you off." Lockdown said. "Enjoy the family reunion while it lasts, Datzun boys." He laughed as he closed the door, shutting all the prisoners in, the next they'd leave that room would be for an inevitable execution.

It was hopeless, the rescue team almost immediately went into a mindset as if they had been here all along, defeated, even Prowl, stubborn to a fault, was sure this was it.

"Well Tread, since I'm gonna die tonight, I am glad I get to die with you, old buddy." Camber set a servo on her friend's shoulder.

"Really?" Treadsmoke asked.

"No. I'm furious that one of your stupid schemes is what's going to get me killed, but I'm too defeated to let myself get worked up over it." Camber admitted.

"I for one, don't mind going out as long as I've got all my pals with me." Trailbreaker grabbed Tread with one servo and Hound with the other.

"We had a good run, didn't we?" Windcharger remarked, settling in with the group.

"Dying... might not be so bad, I've got my brothers with me, after all." A tall, white and red Autobot flier said, gathering around his brothers, the Aerialbots. "Pleased to meet all of you, I am Silverbolt." He announced to the newcomers.

"Alas... I may be in my last moments, but spending them with you makes them all the more better, my love." A white beast former mech said, holding the servo of his mate, a brown and gray beast former femme. "I love you, Airazor."

"I love you, Tigatron." His mate replied, smiling sadly at him.

"I gotta admit," the red and blue Datzun mech, Smokescreen said, looking up at his two brothers. "Even if it's gonna be the last time I see you, it's great to see you guys again."

"Likewise." Prowl sat down beside him.

"I love you, bro." Bluestreak sat to Smokescreen's other side.

"And as usual, I ain't got nobot." A stout green and purple mech with a large canopy over his helm huffed befote glancing up at Camber. "Guess you and I are alone together, huh? Name's Scuff."

"Uh, no. I'm kinda with those guys." She pointed to the Outlier huddle, I'm just mad at them.

"Frag." Scuff sighed.

"Waitasec, guys, we still have the police on the way! We'll all be fine." Bluestreak mentioned.

"The police aren't exactly outfitted with the best firepower, Lockdown's crew will make short work of them." Smokescreen shook his helm. "I've thought of a few was out that may work, but it's too risky."

"We could smash through the wall and get down that way." Treadsmoke suggested.

"And plummet to our deaths? No thanks." Scuff shook his helm.

"Well hold on a minute. We got... five Aerialbots, Airazor, and Camber. That's seven fliers. That leaves eight grounders. Scuff and Windchrager could buddy up since they're smaller." Treadsmoke deduced.

"That would never work, how are we gonna blast through the wall, Tread?" Camber asked.

"What about this then," Prowl spoke up. "The police are going to be here soon, and of anything it will be a distraction for Lockdown's crew." He got up and walked over to the door. "Hmm. Doesn't look too hard to break down, especially if we use somebot as a bludgeon."

"Who'd ever do that?" Smokescreen arched an optic ridge.

"I'll do it." Trailbreaker said. "I'm bigger, you got a better chance of getting that door down with me."

"Shh, I hear something." Airazor spoke up, fluttering up to the upper wall of the room where there was an air vent. She could overhear Shatter and Oil Slick talking to Lockdown.

"Boss, they're here." Oil Slick informed him.

"Who!?" Lockdown asked.

"Cybertronian Police forces, and many of them." Shatter replied. "They're ready to storm the tower."

"Then we'd better go give them a proper welcoming." Lockdown stated.

"What about the prisoners?" Oil Slick asked.

"We've already won. Just leave 'em." Lockdown instructed, the three bots running off to where Dropkick, Needlenose, and the others were.

"Pride goes before destruction." Airazor giggled a bit as she fluttered down. "The coast is clear."

"It's now or never then." Hound nodded. Hound, Treadsmoke, Camber, and Silverbolt picked up Trailbreaker and charged for the door. Sure enough, this broke the door down and freed the prisoners.

"Woo! I'm sure if I wasn't pumped full of adrenalin I'd have a splitting helm ache!" Trailbreaker exclaimed, climbing to his pedes.

"Let's move." Treadsmoke ordered, leading the mob of sixteen to the ground level. Down on the ground level, Lockdown's crew were keeping the police at bay. Mostly making negotiations, both sides were armed in case they needed to fire at moment's notice.

"Put your servos where I can see them, Lockdown." A blue and white SUV build femme said, ready to fire. "This is Chief Strongarm of the Cybertronian Police Force."

"I'm not doing anything you say, copper." Lockdown snarled. "You'd all best leave before you get yourself killed."

"Excuse me," Treadsmoke spoke up, now only about ten meters behind Lockdown and his crew. "Is there a manager I could speak to around here? My stay on Datzun has been... far from satisfactory."

"What in the name of..." Lockdown turned to see the sixteen hostages. "You!"

"Game over Lockdown, you're surrounded." Prowl stated.

"There are two things in this universe that always prevail, and that is good and love, two things you know nothing of." Tigatron snarled.

"Oh shut up." Oil Slick rolled his optics, blasting the circus performer.

"Tigatron!" Airazor cried out.

"It's but a scratch, my love." Tigatron assured her.

"Well, they've made an offensive, time for a defensive." Treadsmoke grinned, grabbing the twin smokestacks off his back and swinging them like little clubs. He leaped for Oil Slick and clubbed him across the helm, well, the casing around his helm. This sparked the other hostages to start attacking, and soon there was a full fledged fight in the lobby of the plaza.

"Over here, ugly!" Hound called to Needlenose, who then charged at Hound only for him to disappear. "Wait a minute, I'm over here!" And soon, Needlenose was surrounded by holographic copies of Hound, circling in on him.

"Stay away! Stay away!" Needlenose exclaimed, and soon, the Hounds all disappeared, leaving the original just inches from Needlenose's visage.

"Boo." Hound grinned, punching Needlenose hard in the face and sending him crashing into the wall.

"I'm surprised you even know how to fire that thing!" One of the Aerialbots, Air Raid, taunted his brother as they shot at Dropkick and Oil Slick from across the way.

"You're saying that with your aim?" His brother, Slingshot laughed. Neither of them were the best aim, Trailbreaker and Windcharger noticed.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Trailbreaker asked.

"Operation Hamstermech Ball." Windcharger grinned. Trailbreaker put a force field around he and Windcharger, and then the minibot then activated his magnets to grant the ball movement, the ball rolled across the floor, and collided against Dropkick, who then flung into Oil Slick.

"Split spare!" Bluestreak laughed.

"How DARE you imitate the glorious Megatron!?" A hulking purple mech with one red optic by the name of Lugnut bellowed as he tackled Treadsmoke. "Megatron is so far above you, you can not even begin to comprehend his greatness!"

"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, bub." Treadsmoke wriggled about and kicked the mech off of him. "Pleasure to see you again Shatter, you look well. Is that a new coat of paint, Lucifer red? It suits you." He said as Shatter attacked him.

"You don't have the ball bearings, you wouldn't attack a femme." Shatter taunted.

"No, but I would!" Camber picked Shatter up by the helm and ripped her off of Treadsmoke. "I never liked you, you triple changing glitch!" She threw her to the ground and stomped on her abdomen.

"Thanks." Treadsmoke breathed, getting to his pedes.

"Don't mention it, pal." Camber slugged his shoulder.

"Give it up, Lockdown, you lost." Smokescreen said as he, Bluestreak, and Prowl fought the mech. "I ain't going anywhere."

"I'll send you to the pit, you primary colored sleazeball." Lockdown growled, clawing at him.

"Nobot calls him that except me." Prowl jumped on Lockdown's back and grabbed him by the neck. "Blue! Cuff him!" Bluestreak nodded and placed the cuffs on Lockdown's wrists, effectively disabling him.

"You're heading off to the stockade, say goodbye to the wife and sparklings, chump." Treadsmoke grinned, kneeling down to look Lockdown in the optic.

"You may lock up my body, but my spirit and loyalty shall never be fettered!" Lugnut bellowed, he started to ramble on before a clamp was placed over his mouth.

"Oh, shut up." Strongarm rolled her optics. "Great work you guys." She said to Treadsmoke and the Datzun brothers. "The Cyber System just got a heck of a lot safer with this gang behind bars."

"No thanks necessary, ma'am." Treadsmoke nodded respectfully.

"She didn't say thanks, Tread." Camber murmured.

"Yeah, well, still. Not necessary." Treadsmoke shrugged.

* * *

The team from Earth rested after what became a long day, some of them rested anyway. The Outliers, being natural party animals, spent the night on the town. But when morning came, it was time to say farewell.

"Are you sure you don't wanna come to Earth with us?" Treadsmoke asked Camber. "We could use a servo."

"I've got a bar to run." Camber shook her helm. "Keep in touch, will ya?" She asked.

"You bet." Treadsmoke nodded, looking up at his friend. "Oh well, it'll still be nice that the Outliers are back together again." He grinned, since Windcharger decided to join his friends heading back to Earth. "Told you he'd come in handy." He murmured to Prowl.

"Mm." Prowl rolled his optics. "It was... good to see you again, Smoke." He smiled at his brother.

"Same to you, Prowler." Smokescreen nodded. "Might have to be a little more conservative on who I let into Datzun from now on."

"Just some background checks, no need to quarantine the planet." Prowl reasoned. "You have Teletraan One's coordinates if you ever need me, too."

"Thanks bro." Smokescreen nodded, pulling his brother in for a hug. "Keep in touch, huh?"

"Sure thing." Prowl nodded. "Well folks, let's get home."

But none of them would be ready for the surprise that would await them when they arrived home, but that's another story...


End file.
